Facing the Consequences
by Ventiwings
Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?
1. The Joker comes and goes

Facing the consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

Forgive me for starting another fanfiction! I have a weak will when it comes to writing new plots!

Some curse words were tossed in there, sorry. I promise not to use it much longer in the next chapters.

Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Just the plot. Nothing more, nothing less.

* * *

"You're late."

"…hmmn…"

She sighed. I could tell she was irritated with me, but my mind was in a jumbled mess. I couldn't think straight, hell I could barely walk straight. My skull was probably flooding with blood after getting bashed with a pipe so many times, I was afraid I was going to faint right then and there and there was that knife that sliced me at the arm. Then there was also, the fact that I was tripped off and banged my legs against the concrete when I was trying to get out of the brawl.

And yet again, in the dead of the night, she sat there at our small kitchen table. An empty cup of coffee in her hands and her eyes staring daggers at me, wanting another explanation; in short, this was a regular thing, so just because my head was in a whirl of confusion, I knew what was going on. She walked towards me, catching me before I fell to our dusty wooden floor.

Yes our, I lived with a few other people in our small and cramped apartment. We didn't have enough money to move into an actual house yet and that's where some of the riskier jobs came in.

"You're hurt again."

"No shit Sherlock."

She stayed silent, lugging me towards the bathroom, careful not to bump me into anything. Then she turned towards the bathtub and dropped me in there. I winced. I guess she wasn't in the mood to be gentle tonight.

"Careful!"

She didn't say anything and wordlessly started stripping me of my blood soaked jean jacket and my black crusty black shirt. I looked at my battered and bruised body; my vision was slowly coming back to me. I was a piece of art, wasn't I? Looking at all of the old and new scars stitching themselves over my multiple bruises from the various fights I got into. Street fights were just the worst kinds to get into.

I felt a cold wad of paper towels pressed against the cut of my skull and I jumped in shock of the touch. She didn't do anything, but give me an emotionless face. She was so used to seeing blood it was like finding trees in a forest; to her, blood was the most common thing in the world. Then she turned it to a new side and began dabbing it on the cut while I clutched the rims of the tub.

It hurt so much!

She tossed the blood soaked towel away and walked towards the medicine cabinet, taking out the disinfectant and wounds of bandages along with some pain killers. When she set them down, she began working her magic, her healing touch, something that most of us in the house didn't have. Of course, most of us in the house didn't know the first thing of domestic house skills in cleaning and cooking so this would probably tie into being able to work on wounds. I just watched her, feeling my head getting heavy and soon my eyelids followed the gravity.

"You're an idiot."

"I know."

"You're not careful."

"I know."

"You're not thinking straight."

"Shut up, I know."

"You're a pain to deal with."

I fell asleep.

* * *

When I woke up, I found myself on a bed that wasn't mine. Of course it wasn't since it was my turn on the pull out couch last night. Since we only had two usable rooms, we gave one to the girls to share and the others for the guys to rotate in. The guys' room was also a combination of being our workplace to make sure we didn't get cheated out of our payments.

We just really wanted to get out of this neighborhood.

I tossed to my side, and soon bolted up in pain. It hurt like hell. As if my body was burning and I just couldn't fight the fire with only screams of anguish. The door burst open and I found Rin standing there with helpless eyes. I forced a crooked grin as she ran towards me with tears in her eyes. I flinched when she wrapped her arms around me and forced her lips on mine.

I knew this kind of thing wasn't right. I knew that if this continued then I would only hurt her and myself even more. I knew that this was just her way of forgetting. I knew all of this and yet I didn't do a thing to stop it.

You see, when we were really young, we lost our parents. Our house was burned down and we were sent to live with different relatives who despised our relationship that was developed when Rin went into an emotional breakdown. Hey, even I was disgusted and irritated that I was some toy that was used to comfort Rin whenever she was stressed or remorseful. But I'm her brother; I'm supposed to be there for her no matter what.

Then the door creaked even wider and my sister pulled away from me. Her remorseful self soon reverted back to her regular façade. There she was, our personal nurse, at the door, holding a tray with a bowl of ramen steaming inside. A cup of tea was set beside the bowl and a pair of chopsticks was wrapped in a red string. Of course she would do anything to embellish the situation to distract ourselves from reality.

Eh…she was doing a bang up job, I guess.

Her eyes still held that same emotionless look as she casually walked towards us and set the tray on the bed. She pulled up a rickety stool and untied the chopsticks. Her fingers took hold of them and she swirled them around the steamy bowl, plucking a few noodles and held them up. I glanced towards Rin who nodded with worry and I leaned towards the other girl. She fed me the ramen wordlessly and when she was down, she stood up and left, leaving the entire set of food.

The door followed her and it shut closed.

"I should've stayed up to dress your wounds!" Rin cried out, her eyes flooding with tears and her body trembling. I waved my hand at that.

"You need to concentrate on school."

She bit her lower lip. I silently grumbled at this. I had to make her feel better, so I forced myself to move upward and captured her lips onto mine. She seemed to have calmed down and soon left the room with a less wary atmosphere. As I watched her, I looked down at the tea cup and began to drink.

It was sweet.

* * *

She came back to my room after I found myself waking up from my second slumber of the day. When I checked the clock, it said twelve in the afternoon; Rin was probably at school.

"You kissed her again."

"I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do."

Then she grabbed the tray and departed without giving me a chance to respond. I know I had another choice; I know I did, but…it felt like that would kill her instead of help her. I decided to ignore the girl and fell back asleep. It was kinda hard the third time.

After my third awakening, I was on the pull out couch with two of the others sitting on the other beat up looking couch. They were chatting amongst themselves with the aroma of food wafting itself in the air. It smelled really good and my stomach was grumbling like crazy.

"Ah you're awake." Meiko stood up with a cocky grin on her face. She crossed her arms while walking towards my beat up self. "About time, we've been waiting to talk to you."

Oh great, that meant I had another job to do.

"That could wait." The voice called out from the kitchen and I craned my neck while adjusting into a sitting position. Her blank stare was still fixated on her face. "It's time for dinner." Then she resumed setting up the small table with a plate of meatballs and pork chop. It looks like we had enough money to buy more than one type of meat this week.

When we served ourselves food, Rin plopped herself next to me, talking about what she was learning at school. Meiko listened with the same smile stitched on her face. Unlike me, she was genuinely listening, probably wanting to know if her old boyfriend was still doing well. Kaito didn't appreciate the conversation one bit.

I looked back at the kitchen where she sat. Her hands wrapped around a cracked cup of coffee. They were always grasped around the object; it was like her veins were flooded with the bitter liquid. Why did she like bitter stuff anyway if she made everything sweet?

"I'm gonna do my homework," Rin whispered to me after she finished her meal. She left the dish on the paper dressed coffee table and walked towards the girls' room with her bag in tow. When the door shut, Meiko stood up again and stretched her arms. She set her plate on Rin's and weaved her way through the cluttered floor and towards the bathroom.

Kaito turned to me with a sympathetic look. He always tried being the big brother of the group even though he _knows _that he could never fulfill the role. He would never be able to fill in Leon's shoes. Never, no matter how much he wants to try.

"We're almost over half way with the debts." With that, he left to the guys' room, probably going to see if he can hack his way into another system.

Then it was just us.

"I'm going to work."

"Playing maid?"

"Yes."

"Get me a souvenir."

Her chair screeched in response and soon the open and shut of our rickety door followed. I was left alone with only the static of our busted TV giving me a companion; albeit an annoying companion, but a companion nonetheless. I grumbled while positioning myself on the couch and tried lulling myself to sleep in order to muster up any mobility before my next job.

I came back with a batch of new cuts and bruises, but this time, a black eye was added to the mix. Meiko just knew which jobs that at entertained me at first only to have me become the entertainer at the end. Apparently all of my jobs end up with me getting the crap beaten out while I leave a bunch of thugs lying on the ground before I collect my pay. Meiko has a sick sense of humor is all I could think of with my bored mind. I reach for the controller and click the TV on to find that an old fashioned, black and white movie about a crappy mystery murder was playing. The loud and raspy voice of the detective came to my ears and I watched him talking to the maid.

Maid, huh, the maid was always the culprit of the crime and it made me grin in irony. Our little maid here was always the criminal anyway. Meiko came back and watched with me, complaining about how the case was already pointing at the victim's wife despite it being the vengeful maid who the victim promised to marry years before. She laughed at how the maid sobbed her story to the indifferent detective before getting taken away. Then the movie ended and it hit midnight, I lowered the volume, knowing that Rin was fast asleep and Kaito probably hit the desk to sleep.

"Tonight's job is the usual. A shifty old man's asking for someone to deliver his package to a woman across town. No questions asked and no comments either."

"No brawls this time around?"

She laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. "You're known to be a magnet for fighting, so unless you disguise your blond hair then maybe there won't be any brawls." The brunette flashed me a smile, a sarcastic one at that.

"You're not funny."

"I'm trying to be real."

"I hate that word."

"You hate a lot of things." She stretched out her arms once more. "Get some sleep, champ, you're gonna be making another evening trip across town."

Meiko departed back into the girls' room. Then almost immediately, she walked through the apartment's door and closed it, fixing all three locks.

"Still up?"

"Yeah; I'm just wasting space as usual."

"I'll make coffee."

"Nah, I don't like anything bitter."

She didn't respond and I heard sounds of glass clanking against one another. The sound of the stove turning on flared in the air and I adjusted myself into lying down, grabbing the fallen blanket that was stitched with different colored patches. Not the coziest thing in the world, but y'know, whatever worked was whatever we got. She entered the small living area and sat down on the other couch with a single cup of coffee. Guess she didn't make any for me.

"So did you get me a souvenir?"

She took a sip of her drink then dug into her bags, one of those fake ones that look real, and took out a few crystal figurines. She placed them on the table and got up, retrieving the stack of filthy plates.

"These are a lot of figurines."

I inspected them. It looks like we'll be able to pay some of the debts with these. We'll have to check them out later when Kaito wakes up.

"I don't like doing this."

"Too bad, we don't have a choice."

"We always had a choice."

"Stop saying that!"

I get so mad whenever I spoke to her. Whenever I was alone with her, it felt like I was arguing with a brick wall. She never expressed any emotion, nor ever do anything on impulse. It was like she was some sort of frozen mask on her facing, never threatening to fall off to show her true colors. What an annoying girl.

Also, she keeps talking about there being another way out of this life. As if. We were drowning in so many debts that it was impossible to continue going to school, so I had to drop out, she had to drop out and Meiko and Kaito had to leave their university to help out. We conjured enough money to allow Rin to continue going to school; we didn't believe that Rin should be tainted by criminal filth.

"You have to stop getting into pointless fights."

"I can't control that."

"Yes you can."

"Tell those bastards that, not me!"

"I'm going to wash these. Give the figurines to Kaito when you can."

Then she left with the stack and I could hear the sink run with water. I grumbled and forced myself to sleep.

It wasn't that hard the fourth time.

* * *

I ran with all my might, my leg was still kind of sore and my head hurt like crazy. My lungs were yelling at me to slow down so my heart wouldn't burst out of my chest. However, I had to deny the request. I had to get this mission done already so I could get my pay and avoid anymore confrontations. I gritted my teeth, hugging the package against my chest. If Leon was here then this stuff wouldn't have happened. Lola wouldn't be lying in the hospital, Sweet Anne wouldn't have had to force herself to taking a various jobs concerning modeling and we wouldn't have to fit five people into a small, feeble apartment.

That and along with a lot of debts piled on our shoulders. Kaito and Meiko tried keeping us together, picking out jobs and trying to work with what we got. They sacrificed a lot with trying to keep the atmosphere from falling apart and breaking into a million pieces. I could tell that they were tired, but so was I.

I was tired of having to live a life based on lies and underhanded deals. I was especially tired of having to life live as though there was nothing but money to live for. The reason for working felt really dirty to me because of the jobs I had to do like running illegal packages or having to run around with messages. If it concerned making black market type deals, phones weren't the best means of communication.

"Here,"

I handed the package to a lady with long blond hair tied in a long side pony tail. She blinked while glancing between the package and me.

"Want to come in?"

Oh hell no I don't. I ran across town to finish the job and it was close to midnight. I was _not _going to enter some rich woman's house on account of pity.

"No."

"Just for a few minutes."

"No."

"It's pretty cold outside."

"No."

"It's getting really late too."

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"We're having a party and I'm sure you're famished."

"I said no, lady, I'm in a hurry."

I scowled; this woman was getting on my nerves. She scowled and handed me the bundle of money the old man was waiting for. I nodded to her and sped off before she could utter another word. What did I look like to her? Did I look like an easy catch for her rich skinny fingers to grasp for? Pfft. Rich women were so easy to analyze.

When I returned, the trembling old man ran out from his store and thanked me while I handed him the money. I held my hand out for my payment and he handed me the manila envelope. I grinned.

"Pleasure doing business with ya."

He ran back inside, locking it quickly and I sneaked around corners of buildings and past some alleyways. And then…I came face to face with another group of gang wannabes smoking up the place with noxious fumes. Don't these people have anything better to do?

"Looks like the piece of shit is here."

"Didn't we beat the crap out of him earlier this week?"

"Kid heals up fast."

I scowled at all of them. It was the other way around, people. I'm the one who beat the crap out of them. I rolled my eyes and began walking away; I was really tired from all the running. Also, I didn't need any new injuries to blanket my body. I heard them follow me and I groaned in annoyance, casting my eyes around my current environment. Trashcans were around me with plastic bags flying around everywhere along with useless ads getting carried by the wind.

When I turned around, reaching for a trash can lid, bright lights blinded me. The group, in turn, did the same thing and gasped at the sight. Who was it that made these jerks lose their breath?

"Step away from the kid, he's with me."

The voice was feminine and I could immediately tell that she was here; looks like she wasn't waiting at home as usual. Then the lights dimmed down and I saw her body being flooded from behind with the light. She took off her helmet and held it at her hip, giving them a bored look.

"Who's she?"

One whispered and the others starting talking really fast.

"I can't believe you don't know who she is!" One exclaimed in horror.

"The Joker of the night," I stated with a piqued interest.

"Run children, I want the kid."

They scurried off, with a dirty dust cloud behind them. She turned off the engine of the motorcycle and swung the key ring around her fingers with the various keys jingling.

"So what does the Joker want with me?"

"I'm taking you home."

"What, you didn't bring any souvenirs back?"

"Get on the motorcycle."

I did so, and she took her place in front of me, kicking back the break and twisted the handle. The engine roared and I wrapped my arms around her delicate waist; she was cold to touch. We were driving well into the night, scarring the road with the tires of the raging motorcycle and I could feel myself flying from it. It was a fun sensation and I was happily awaiting the chance where I could earn enough money to buy myself a motorcycle and ride it legally. Maybe I could even bring Rin to school and make her friends confused. I grinned at that.

That was definitely something I plan on doing when we pay off everything and stray from this crook-like life style. She stopped in front of the apartment building and I hopped off. She drove the motorcycle to the back alley, taking a while; she was probably working on the chain so that no one would take it. I don't know why she's insecure about it; everyone in the building knew not to mess with her.

We both climbed up the flight of stairs and finally made it to our apartment number. I threw myself on the couch, wincing at the springs hitting my sore body, but slowly eased into the frazzled fluff of the furniture. The sound of glass clinking together made my relaxation decrease.

"Did you find out the price of the figurines?"

"Each was around three thousand."

"I brought seven."

"Twenty one thousand then," I paused. "They were pretty small, were they the less noticeable ones?"

She didn't say anything and I felt irritation soar within me.

"You were supposed to take the important ones! How else are we supposed to pay off everything?"

"We work in good, healthy jobs."

Always the same answer. I gritted my teeth and decided that I would ignore her. Just then, Meiko busted out of her room and stomped towards the kitchen. Yeah, justice was being served right then and there whereas I was sitting and gawking at the static filled TV. I heard a slap and winced, knowing that she got hit by the brunette.

Kaito sprung out of his room to fend off the busty woman and I growled in irritation. Why did Kaito always stand up for her? She doesn't even defend herself, so what's the point of making other people do that? For a while, I rolled around the question in my head, but decided that it would it would be best to leave it alone or I'll be the one getting hit. He pulled Meiko away from the kitchen and to the guys' room to calm her down. I looked back to find that the stools were thrown to the side and she was sitting on the floor with a blank look.

Her eyes stared at the ground in a stone hard gaze and I saw something I never expected to see from her.

Our Joker of the Night was crying.

* * *

A week later, I was sitting in the tub once more. My arms were bleeding this time and my jaw was sore. She was kneeling by the bath tub, scrubbing the blood off of my face and shoulders. Her eyes looked tired and I felt like something was off with her tonight. I think she caught me staring at her and thus the scrubbing became harder and I screamed in pain.

"You have to stop running head first into a fight."

"Pfft. That's how I win most of them."

"No, that's how you lose most of them."

"Stop telling me what to do!"

"I'm only giving you good advice."

"No, you're just trying to use your own status to rule over me! I'm not a kid anymore, y'know!" I yelled, smacking her hand away from me with the sponge flying to the tiled floor and her hand frozen in the air. This was another thing I didn't expect from her. Her eyes were wide and looked as though it was dilated. It looked like she was ready to hit me with the way her shoulders were tensed, her breath was in place and it seemed like she recollected her composure.

Wordlessly, she grabbed the sponge, dumped it into the bucket of warm water, squeezed it and began scrubbing once again.

"I'm not gonna apologize." I retort.

She didn't respond and went to cleaning the blood around the cuts.

"I don't know why you do this stuff for me."

Again, no response; she sprayed the disinfectant on my cuts. I yelped once more, but she kept my tensing arms down.

"You don't get anything in return, remember?"

I felt her hands freeze, but resumed working on the rest of my injuries. Within minutes of silence, she was done treating them and I began pulling myself up from the tub. For an annoying girl, she knows how to do the job right when it comes to cuts and bruises.

"I'm doing what Leon told me to do."

I froze when she said his name. How long has it been since she even spoke of him? I think it was a week after he died that she stopped saying his name. It was like after his death she cut off everyone from her life and only did what she wanted to do or what she was told to do. I dunno; I was too worried about Rin at the moment since Leon was our steady benefactor. He was also the only other living relative we knew about and was actually close to.

In all honesty, I never questioned her relationship with Leon, probably because it looked like she was a charity case. She was probably there to serve food and other stuff; after all, she looked way too innocent to take on jobs like this. Even if she was the acclaimed Joker of the night that was talked about in these streets; she looked so useless.

When I hit the bed – it was my turn to sleep in the guys' room – I thought long and hard about Leon. Lola was still unconscious in the hospital and Sweet Anne was gonna return to us pretty soon. That meant we had to move more stuff around and divide up our little portion of food as best as we can. I grumbled and turned to my side, careful not to put too much pressure on my healing arms.

Without realizing it, I fell asleep.

It was a strange week. When Sweet Anne came back, something weird happened:

Our Joker of the Night disappeared.

* * *

Gaaah why can't I stick to one fanfiction? I can't seem to control the muses I get and thus this fic was born, along with half of the second chapter. It was vague, I know, but some stuff will be explained later on in the next few chapters. I'm not gonna expand this fic to like ten chapters, I already have a terrible record of getting past three or four chapters and then having writer's block (.-.).

Oh yeah, also, I keep seeing all these fluffy Len x Miku fics and I wanted to do something darker (I'm such a nonconformist haha). It'll get lighter sometime along the way, I plan on it, and yay for adding in first gen Vocaloid!

To those who read Whatever it Takes, I'm actually writing the chapter, trying to make it longer and getting to the chapter after that. There's also some Len x Miku fluff in it since someone mentioned it in their review (I think? My memory is kinda waning on me about this topic).

To those who read Selective, I scraped an entire chapter so I've been reworking on a different one. Sorry.

On another note... um... if anyone has Skype, wanna chat? I've been wanting to talk to other fanfiction members for a while now, but I'm kinda shy about it. Send me a PM or something if you wanna chat and I'll send you an invite!

~Ventus


	2. The bitter traces of coffee

Facing the consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

Thank you to those who reviewed! Thanks to those who read!

Please tell me if there's anything that needs to be fixed or if there's any questions then go on and ask away, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to answer them accurately if it concerns the plot. ...I don't even know where this is going.

Please enjoy!

* * *

Time passed and it felt really weird having to return home and not be welcomed by a stone cold face. Instead, there was a smiling and affectionate one. Sweet Anne brought back the life that was taken away from us when she had to travel to a different city to pursue a modeling job to get money. She hated having to work with cameras and wearing ridiculous costumes, but we urged her to do it so she wouldn't get killed in crossfire between gang wars. She was back due to taking a break, but I think it was because she didn't wanna continue the perverted work of a model especially with people she didn't like.

We welcomed her back with open arms. Strangely, _she _did as well and was even able to crack a smile on her thin lips. Sweet Anne was being her usually cheery self, talking up a storm and telling us that the money she earned was well on its way of paying all the loans and debts. Rin cheered with glee at this, I couldn't help but smile too while Kaito and Meiko grinned and decided that it was time the adults broke into their wine. Rin and I had to be excused from that, only having the honor of drinking water while the smell of alcohol filled the room.

_She _was sitting at the table, by herself with a cup of coffee in her hands. A semi-content smile was drawn on her lips and I could feel a sense of suspicion falling on my shoulders. Just the thought of her being happy made me shudder in a ghastly manner.

* * *

Sweet Anne, we called her that because she liked eating different types of sweets when she was younger, held me by the arms and put me in the tub. She offered me words of comfort while disposing my dirty clothes and working on my wounds. Kaito was sitting on a stool in the bathroom with his shirt off and his back covered in a layer of scars. It looked like he didn't have such an easy job tonight either from what I could see with his right cheek swelling.

A bag of ice was in his hand and it was slowly melting. I could tell that it wasn't the job was what got him depressed. It was the disappearance of our maid, our Joker of the Night, but I guess more importantly to him, it was the disappearance of his so-called younger sister.

I hated saying her name, because it felt like she hated every one of us. It felt like I betrayed myself if I ever spoke her name and I really just proclaim her as _she, her, that girl _or _Joker of the Night_. Other than her cooking our food and being the Joker, I really had no respect for her.

"Stop sulking around, it's not like she was helping us out that much," I sneered towards Kaito, who shot up and pounced towards me, pushing Sweet Anne out of the way. I choked at Kaito's grip and clawed at his hands that pressed against my throat. It felt really hard to breathe and I didn't realize how much stronger he got in the past few years, especially since he always wears the baggiest of clothes.

"Don't talk about Miku as if you know her."

His blue haired shadowed over his face and his usual goofy expression disappeared as if it never existed. Why did he care so much about that useless girl? She was nothing in this group. Not even Meiko cared about her to give her any recognition of being a member.

"Kaito-nii! Please stop hurting Len!" Sweet Anne cried with tears forming her eyes. She pulled at his arms, trying to see if they would budge if she put her all into her strength. Sadly, I don't think she was strong enough to do a thing to help me. Not even I was, and I've been in more fights than I could count!

The man ignored her, concentrating his glaring dark blue eyes into me.

"You don't know her, you don't know the regret she's been living with, you don't know what she's been put through, and you don't know what she's sacrificed for us. So don't you _dare _judge her or speak badly of her."

Then he released his grasp around my neck and stalked out of the bathroom, leaving a weeping Sweet Anne and me trying to soothe my neck. What did he mean by all of that? What did…ugh…_Miku _go through that's terrible? It's not like she _died. _It's not like she lost her parents. It's not like _she _could understand _me _anyway!

"Dammit!"

I took hold of the bathtub's rim and tried getting up. This was no time to sulk or get angry. We were almost out of our debts and if I work hard enough then I could get the money to start going to school again or even get a motorcycle.

* * *

Rin had been more shifty than usual; she would always come to me in the dead of night and force herself on me. I tried asking her what was going on, trying to figure out if something at school was bothering her, but she always denied it. She also felt more possessive than usual, clinging to me as if life depended on it whenever we were together. In short, it was starting to get on my nerves.

It was another night and I found myself sitting at the table and staring at the neat pile of dishes that Sweet Anne cleaned. She was good replacement for the Joker, and she cooked better too. …Replacement? Was that fair to call Sweet Anne that? I mean, she's been here far longer than the Joker…but…I dunno; it felt weird saying it. It also felt weird as to why I'm sitting at the table and looking at the cracked coffee pot that was sitting on the stove, never touched.

I didn't wanna move the coffee pot no matter how much it pissed me off.

Everyone else was in the living area, crowding around a stack of papers with Rin working on her homework. Meiko was writing down something on her coffee colored notepad, Kaito was staring blankly out the window, and Sweet Anne was sitting calmly while watching TV. Then she turned it off, gaining everyone's attention.

"We're moving." Sweet Anne smiled when she saw our flabbergasted expressions.

"Sweetie," Meiko started with a wave of her hand, her stubby pencil dancing between her fingers. "We don't have the money for it."

We all know that, Sherlock.

"I know, but the modeling agency in the next city told me that they wanted me to live closer so I wouldn't have to stay at a hotel," she began, waving her hands a bit. "I told them that I was going to negotiate with my family first and well…" Her eyes looked at Meiko with a pleading face.

"No." Kaito slammed his hand on the arm of the couch. Everyone looked at him and I thought that he was crazy to reject something like this.

"What do you mean _no_?" I barked while dragging myself from the kitchen. "This is a good opportunity and we'll be able to visit Lola more easily now." Meiko winced at the sound of Lola's name, causing her lips to twitch into a smile. I was glad that it did because I really wanted to see Lola even though seeing her meant that she was asleep.

"I wanna move too!" Rin pushed and I grinned at her. That makes it, what four against one?

Kaito stood up, and I felt a tower of anger coursing through him. I've never seen or felt him this angry before in the last several years of my life. It was really scary, almost scary as Meiko getting mad and punishing me when I didn't do a job right before.

"Miku isn't back yet."

Meiko pursed her lips and Sweet Anne lowered herself back on her seat on the stool. A silent curtain was dressing itself upon us and I felt the tension in the room increase. Rin reached for my hand and grasped it, I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"She left on her own account," Meiko reminded while crossing her arms, displeased by Kaito's reasoning. "We're not going to stay in this pig sty forever because she was being selfish." Anger flared in Kaito's eyes as he clenched his fists and grabbed Meiko by the collar of her dress shirt.

"Don't you _dare _call her selfish. Don't you remember the sacrifices she made because of these two?" He questioned while pointing to us. I wondered what he meant, but he continued on without pausing for questions from me. "Don't you remember the promise we made to Leon and Lola about how we're supposed to look after the second generation of the group? Each of them is our responsibility and I'd rather die in the most painful way possible than to break a promise that we made with Leon and Lola."

Meiko was frozen solid with his deathly speech, and he didn't find any worth in holding her collar. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and stalked off towards the outside, shutting the door behind him.

"…M-Meiko-nee…?" Rin squeaked.

"We're moving," The woman informed and I felt like the gravity in this room lightened up a bit. While Kaito was out, venting out his anger, we were beginning to pack. Sweet Anne was helping us pack properly so we could fit everything in just a small number of bags. Meiko was in the guys' room, packing up Kaito's stuff as well as our job equipment so we wouldn't get tracked. Then Rin asked the dreadful question:

What were we going to do about Miku's stuff?

"I think we should still pack hers, just in case," Sweet Anne suggested while roaming towards Miku's assigned drawer and found that it was almost cleaned out. Just a few old shorts and shirts were left and I began hearing Sweet Anne crying. I snuck a peek at what made her begin to cry and found that it was a picture of a younger looking Lola and Leon holding a little girl with short teal hair and the brightest smile on her face.

It was a picture of Miku from the past.

* * *

When Kaito got back, we were done packing and he had the most infuriated look on his face. He began spouting at how Miku could come back when they were gone and that he wanted to stay here to welcome her back. However, Meiko didn't let him do that and tied him up, throwing him into the car. Sweet Anne told us that she called for a loading truck to come back tomorrow after we got to the new house.

Supposedly, it was going to be a plain one story house. The garage was going to be worked out as the office for our line of work; the basement was for meetings and other junk from our old apartment. On the first floor were the usual, only three small rooms and the living areas.

The kitchen was a little bigger than the family room and the living room and dining room were connected. I grinned at the sight of this; we were living in an actual looking house. No peeling wall papered walls, no dead bugs everywhere, no cobwebs sticking at the corners of the ceiling and definitely no signs of gang fights in front of our place. Yep, definitely something I've seen on TV, but never believed would belong to us. Rin was really excited, she ran into one of the rooms and decided that she wanted to sleep in the one furthest from the front door.

It was decided that Meiko was going to act as the aunt where as Sweet Anne and Kaito were the parents while it left Rin and I to be the children, just in case someone was going to ask. It was a good cover, but I expected Meiko to be the mother, when I brought that up, she smacked me, calling me an idiot and gave me an explanation about genetics. After her explanation, it made sense that Sweet was the mother since she had blond hair. Yep, I'm not one of the brightest stars in the sky, I'll tell you that.

This was going to be one heck of a dysfunctional family.

* * *

I sat in my new room. I was going to live in this by myself sometimes, with Kaito bunking with me from time to time. We only had some blankets to use as sleeping mats until the old beds came in. I grinned in anticipation, I couldn't wait until we got the appropriate furniture and I wouldn't have to drag myself back home with a bloody trail following me.

Sweet Anne got her mother act together pretty fast, and began lecturing me about how I'm not supposed to resume school yet until all of my injuries heal. It would cast suspicion over us if I had to explain where my mess of body had to go through and it would probably be reported as abuse if anyone discovered the mess. Of course, it would take a really long time for them to heal, but I kept my trap shut immediately when Meiko shot me a glare that threatened to suffocate me slowly till death would take me away.

Kaito, on the other hand, was like a statue. He was standing in front of our new stove and began cooking us a meal. He never touched the stove, never, not even when we were near starving one day while Miku was out of commission. Now he was just defying everything that I remembered since I was child while I watched him hold the handle of a skillet and fried eggs on it. His eyes looked dead and it was like he hadn't slept in days.

That could be the case 'cause we just started living here for about three days.

He wouldn't talk to anyone and even if he did, it would probably only be one word and a grunt after it. The only time he had a full on conversation was with Sweet Anne's manager about their fake marriage and about keeping it under wraps. Kaito was happily obliged to do so.

I got bored of watching him in the kitchen and began walking towards my room. It was empty with only a sleeping mat and a pillow in there. Sure there was my pile of clothes in the corner and some other junk that I kept through the years, but it felt really empty, even with Kaito's other things in there. I adjusted myself in the corner, getting comfortable in there and curled my legs to my chest.

This was all so new to me and strange.

We were usually on the run, going from one crappy apartment to another after Leon died. He gave us a house to live in; it was something like this, but bigger. Yeah, it had a flight of stairs and…and…had a big backyard with a sand box. I slapped my head to my forehead, surfing through my memories of what life was like when our leader, our father figure, was still living and breathing with us.

He died in some gang crossfire while on a job. His car was stopped and he was shot dead when he was trying to get away. At least, that was the story Meiko told me when I woke up the next morning and asked where he was. I was still a little kid, and my memory sucked so I had to rely on whatever anyone in the group told me.

As for Lola and her being in a hospital knocked out in a coma was because of a stray bullet that got her legs paralyzed and she had some sort of unknown disease. The doctors told us that they had to put her on mechanical ventilator. It was hard to see such a strong and upbeat person to look so vulnerable and weak.

A knock came and I perked my head up. Rin was at school right now, transferred far earlier than I thought, but she was excited about going to a school where she didn't have to be afraid of getting shot in.

"It's not locked," I informed.

Sweet Anne walked in wearing a white sun dress with her blond hair curled up to a bun. Yep, definitely mother material. She gave me a sympathetic look, telling me she wanted to talk about something important and locked the door. Why she did that, I was gonna find out.

"What's up?"

"It's about Miku."

I winced. That was a taboo name in this house.

"Why?"

"I'm worried about her," She stuttered with a breathless tone. "It's just that…she never…"

"She was never part of this group, I _refuse _to believe she was," I growled, feeling my irritation beginning to skyrocket. She flinched. I eased myself. I didn't wanna take out my anger on Sweet Anne; she didn't deserve it since she hasn't been with us a whole lot.

She eased herself to the floor, adjusting her dress.

"Look, Len, I have no idea why you're so mad at Miku, but she doesn't deserve this."

"And why not?"

"Because, Kaito-nii was…is right; Miku sacrificed a lot for you and Rin, for all of us and I'd like it if you showed more appreciation."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't remember her helping me out."

She shot me a cold look that made my spine shiver. "I know that you do."

"Okay fine, so she cooked and cleaned, but so what? It's not like that was gonna help with the debts and hospital payments."

She rubbed her temples. "Len, I love you, I really do, you're like the little brother I've always wanted, but Miku was like the sister I never had," Sweet Anne said with a shaking tone. "No, she was like a mother to me even if we were ages apart."

I listened, not wanting to interrupt.

"No matter how many times I yelled at her, no matter how many times I hit her, no matter how many times I would go against her, she always stayed by me." Her fists clenched and her lips pursed into a crooked line.

I started to think. I remembered all of those times that I cursed out on her whenever she would scold me about how I did the jobs. Then my mind skipped back to when she would stay up late and wake up early to do the chores. It then went into the middle of how she always cleaned the blood off of us, regardless of whatever she had to do. She lived her life like a robot without purpose, she even spoke like one and was emotionless like one; sometimes it scared me on how cold she was.

Tears rolled from Sweet Anne's eyes and I jumped in surprise; I never liked it when she cried. She looked so broken when she did. Her lips were quivering like crazy, her nails were digging into the carpet and her body was shaking as if a cold chill flew into the room. She hugged herself and tried to stifle her cries. It was probably because she didn't want Meiko to hear and ram right through the door.

My own body started to tremble. I hated feeling this way; I hated the knot in my throat when I wanted to cry so badly, but I didn't want to. I spent most of my life sucking up my tears, not listening to my emotions, because the money had to come first. Everything everyone deemed important had to come before me. Rin had to come first; food had to come first, money, doing a job well, everything! It wasn't fair!

I bit my lower lip. Sweet Anne probably felt this way when Miku joined.

"Please, Len, just forgive Miku for whatever wrong she d-did...!" She cried out as if in pain, grasping my hands with her own and pulled them towards her. Her eyes were glossed over with tears and her face was red from breathing so hard, fighting back the sobs. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her no matter how hard I tried.

I felt hesitant, regretful…but somehow angry. Why was she so special? Why did she deserve forgiveness? And why was I so mad at her to begin with? I ripped my hands away from hers and backed up against the wall, pressing it until I felt my back getting sore.

"Shut up!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Shut up. Shut up!" I kept repeating, grasping my head in between my palms. "She's supposed to mean nothing to me!"

Then she snapped.

My head was craned to the side, and my eyes were shot wide. My sight slowly returned to Sweet Anne's fierce face and felt my heart racing with fear. I have never seen such a demonic look glaring in her usually gentle eyes.

"U-Uh…" I managed to force from my throat.

Her hand was still in the air and the way she was positioned reminded me of how Miku looked when she was ready to slap me before. Unlike her, however, Sweet Anne actually did the deed and stood up with her fists clenched.

"You're the same as Meiko, always rejecting people who help you without a second thought." Then she got to the door, slowly unlocking it. "…and another thing…just because she means nothing to you doesn't mean you mean nothing to her." Then she left without even looking back, slammed the door and I could hear her footsteps rampaging on the floor outside.

I felt my body weighed down by her comment and fell back, hitting my head against the wall. The bang vibrated in my body, but I didn't care. I got bashed in the head so many times that pain as minor as this wasn't a real problem anymore. Okay, so it hurt, but I'll forget about something as minor as this in an hour or two. What really hurt was…

The fact that hurt the most was that Sweet Anne was absolutely right.

* * *

"Len?" Rin called out while cuddling into my arms. I didn't respond or rather, I didn't feel like responding. "Len?" She called again and I felt my patience skating on thin ice. We were on the roof of our house, watching the stars in the night sky. I was recently out on a really long walk, taking in the unnaturally quiet neighborhood and so happened to have bumped into a terrified Rin. She said that she was scared that I might've run out on my own to look for our Joker, but I assured her I wasn't. For some reason, she was completely relieved to hear that I disregarded her thought.

I'm not supposed to care about the Joker of the Night anyway.

"Something wrong, Len?" My sister questioned, pressing her back against my chest and looking up at me, her neck craning up.

"Not used to the environment is all." It wasn't a total lie.

She puffed her cheeks. It was a habit of hers to do that whenever she wasn't pleased with something and that was practically all the time when it came to me talking about other girls. Oh great, what'd I do now to make her mad at me?

"C'mon Len, you're not being yourself."

You're not either.

"You're being more distant than usual."

You're being way too clingy than usual.

"It's like you're a different person right now."

You have no right to talk.

"Talk to me Len, we can try to work this out."

We will never work anything out.

"Len, please, talk to me!"

All you do is beg and whine.

"I can't help you if you don't talk!"

Stop crying, you can't get through to me.

Tears started welling up in her eyes and I felt my hands twitch into fists. She was getting on my nerves! The way her small body started to tremble and how her voice was starting to crack under the pressure of not knowing. She was slowly reverting into a broken state, seeking comfort from me even though she tried to show that she was going to be the one giving comfort. Sorry, sister dear, but you're not fooling anyone.

"Please…don't choose her over me again…"

What? I gave her a look, not realizing my eyes were wide with shock. What did she mean by that? I never… I never chose anyone before Rin! Even if anyone else was dying, needing help and Rin was fifty yards away crying over a simple cut, I'd be running over to her instead. Even if my legs were immobilized and Rin needed to be carried, I'd find some way to hold her in my arms and deliver her to safety. Even if… even if… was I deluding myself or was I telling myself to the truth?

"What are you talking about?" Her statement was still buzzing in my head.

She bit her lower lip and without me even realizing it, her lips were up against mine and she pushed me down with such force that I was too stunned to think. I could barely even process what was going on until _her _words soared through my head:

_"We always had a choice."_

I tasted salt water, slipping into my mouth and finally, everything clicked together. Rin was on me, crying, her hands grasped at my collar.

_"You kissed her again."_

I winced at those words. Why did it feel so…irritating when she said it? It was obvious already about Rin's little disorder, but how come it hurt whenever she brought it up? She was just stating the obvious so… so…

I shoved Rin off and sat up, wiping my mouth in my sleeve. She rolled away from me with shocked eyes and a breathless mouth. Same as her, I was breathing hard too, wondering why I did that. Was it because of the Joker? No, I didn't want her to be the reason why I did what I've wanted to do for so long.

"L-Len…" Rin started to hiccup, breaking into a fresh batch of tears. "I knew it!" She started screaming. Lights from the neighboring houses all shone brightly through their curtains. "I knew that you loved her more than me!"

"W-Wait Rin!"

She began climbing down from the roof and shakily jumped down from it, landing horribly in the grass. I began reaching out for her, but she got back up on her feet and ran back inside. I could still hear her cries muffled by the walls and I fell on my back, smacking my hands over my eyes. Great…just great…another woman leaves my life without me being able to say anything.

I didn't love her.

…but which _her_ was I thinking about?

* * *

I woke with a start. I looked out the window to find that it was the dead of night, nothing but darkness surrounding me. When did I become a poet in my head? My eyes felt tired, but I didn't feel like falling asleep. Thoughts were raging within my head, yelling at me not to sleep, but to think about everything that had happened for the past two weeks or so.

What was I even thinking about anyway?

_"You're an idiot."_

You can't judge me.

_"You're not careful."_

I'm not the one who ran away.

_"You're not thinking straight."_

I always do.

_"You're a pain to deal with."_

"Then why did you put up with me in the first place?" I yelled, slamming my fists into the floor. I thrashed around, not knowing what else to do at this hour, but then the light flared on and my eyes quickly shut closed. "What the hell?" I grinded my teeth, before adjusting to the newly lit room.

Kaito gave me a worried and confused look as he removed his long white coat and plopped down in front of my sleeping mat. It looked like he was out again, probably looking for Miku or staying at our old apartment, since his blue hair was out of its usual well kept style and his scarf was dirtied. His eyes asked me the question I've been subconsciously asking myself:

"Is there something wrong?"

I picked myself up, flinging my torso over my now crossed legs and hunched over. A shiver crawled down my spine from the sudden cold that filled this room and my eyes were still adjusting themselves to the brightness of our small room. There was not a sound, not even the wind tapping against the window sparked any words from neither me nor Kaito.

"Nothing." I breathed out, not daring to look him in the eye. His eyes were blue, and her eyes were a shade of blue…maybe having evidence of green in them, but I never speculated or dwelled on it too much. There wasn't really a point in whatever eye color she had anyway, it's not like they were lively or interesting to look at.

"Something's wrong, I can tell."

"No you can't."

I hated it when he was like that. He wasn't Leon and he was never going to be Leon. I clenched my teeth, my head starting to hurt from the force of it.

"Len, if you have a problem, just tell me."

"You don't care."

"What makes you say that?"

It's because you don't.

"If I didn't care about you, then I wouldn't be here." Kaito graced his tired features with a flare of determination to convince me. I didn't wanna believe it. …it felt as though I was living a life of total denial after all the talking I've been doing with this dysfunctional family.

"That's not true…"

"What do you mean?"

"You're only here because of Miku." I felt stern and soon a sudden rush of chilled air came over to me when I struck my head up and met Kaito's frozen gaze. Did I hit a nerve? However, I thoughtlessly pursued forward with it. "What makes her so special? Why do you and Sweet Anne care about her so much?" I felt like crying for some reason.

Did I feel inferior?

"…Len…" Kaito started while unwinding his blue scarf.

"Just tell me…" I breathed out, feeling pain spiking up in my chest. I just had to know. "…tell me why."

"It's because… we were the reason her brother died."

* * *

Rin hasn't been acting like herself lately, well more like, whenever I walk into the room, she gets up and leaves. There hasn't been a single moment where we were both in the same room and I couldn't help but feel the heavy atmosphere. Even Meiko felt the icy climate and tried breaking the ice by talking about the new job she got at this gym. Apparently, she was more of a piece of merchandise than a employee because she beat the crap out of everyone in the boxing ring so now people were lining up for rematches.

The thought of people thinking they could rival with this red demon was a humorous thought to me. I would like to see who could face up against Meiko if she were to actually take these rich people seriously.

Aside from the snarky comments I could make about the woman's ferocious nature, I decided to concentrate on Rin. She had her eyes focused on a page of one of her new textbooks and with each flip of a paper, she released a hollow breath. It was like I didn't even exist in her eyes anymore. It gave me a conflicted sense of both relief and quandary. Was this how we were going to live our new lives?

"Eat some snacks, they'll make you feel better," Sweet Anne said with a smile as she set down a small plate with a triangular shaped slice of cake. "Want some tea with that? Milk? Hot cocoa?"

"Coffee."

The word just blurted out from behind my lips and I quickly zipped them shut. The sound of the textbook slipping from Rin's hands rang in everyone's ears and I felt my heart racing with apprehension. Meiko glanced from me, to Sweet Anne then back to my sister who was frozen still. Her eyes seemed dead, but they began to narrow as if she was a huntress with her prey lying dead in front of her. She stood up, disregarding the existence of her school book and marched towards her room.

Everyone stayed silent. The only sound was the insane buzzing that soared within my skull at the echo of Rin's bedroom door shutting closed.

Sweet Anne fidgeted in the spot that she stood on. Her eyes analyzed the room. I could tell that she wasn't thrilled with the scenes that just chained together and I bet that she thought it was her fault. It wasn't, of course, but most definitely it was mine.

It felt like it was always my fault.

* * *

I promised a quick update, and I would've done that sooner...but I kept falling asleep after coming home from school ==" So I'd wake up about three or two hours later and the computer would be taken. Then when I finally find time to write, I have to go upstairs to sleep (my muse usually comes at night for some weird reason) or I have to run an errand.

This chapter was tricky to write, but I tried pulling some strings and it finally came together. I rushed through it, but it's for plot development and the fact that Miku's still missing. I can't make any promises on a quick update since I threw this together just recently and there'll probably be grammatical/spelling errors and maybe some plot holes or awkward sentence structuring...but I...y'know...umm...I got too excited about finishing the chapter to care. Especially since I'm trying to make each chapter ten pages long, so the updates will take time to come along.

Anyway, it's past midnight here, so everyone have a good morning/night/afternoon!

~Ventus


	3. Dead or Alive?

Facing the consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

Thank you to those who reviewed! Thanks to those who read!

Please tell me if there's anything that needs to be fixed or if there's any questions then go on and ask away, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to answer them accurately if it concerns the plot. ...I don't even know where this is going.

Please enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3

Have you ever had the rebellious feeling of being told something you don't wanna do? That type of feeling where you'd rather die than doing the thing you're against; the one where you're just close to breaking down, going on your knees and begging and repeatedly pleading in the most pathetic voice you could muster in order to avoid doing such a thing.

Well imagine that, and then think of me being in that position. Of course I'm not begging or anything.

"I don't want to!"

"You're going to and you'll like it."

"I won't! I'll hate it. I'll hate it for the rest of my life."

"You're being too dramatic, Len!"

"I am not! I am being completely rational!"

"Len, you're on your knees, begging. I think you're beyond being rational."

Meiko rolled her eyes at me as I started pounding on the floor. Sweet Anne gave me a look of sympathy and Rin just stood there, wondering what the hell was going on. Instead of calming down and explaining what was happening, I stopped my pounding and looked up at Meiko with anger. How dare she insult me this way!

I've been enjoying my day, watching TV and ignoring the world around me like a good little boy and she had the nerve to ruin it by unplugging the box and told me one of the worst news that had reached my ears.

She was impossible to deal with!

Then with another death like stare at her, I began to repeat previous words:

"For the last time… I. Am. Not. Going. To. Do. IT."

A malicious look crawled through Meiko's piercing eyes and soon her inner demon was let loose.

"Yes. You. WILL."

Sweet Anne sighed in distress as she threw her hands in the air in defeat. "I'm going to go make the call." With that, she dragged herself out of the family room and into the kitchen where the telephone was.

It was safe to say that Rin's blank look was replaced by a terrified one when Meiko had her foot on my back, my arm twisted back and a look of excruciating pain plastered over my face. Yep. I was going to be sore and probably broken in a few minutes.

Why does life have to be so unfair to me?

* * *

"Hello, my darlings!"

…What…the…hell…?

A girl with magenta hair in the style of what looked like drills jumped in front of us. She looked as young as I did, but from the name tag bestowed on her chest, it didn't seem likely that we were on the same status level. Even if she did have a pretty flat chest, she must've been older than me, or so I think anyway.

"I'm so glad you're all here to take part in the shoot!" She giggled in delight, and then whipped out a pair of wire rimmed glasses with a devilish wing design. She studied all of us intently, and I had to back bend a bit, so that she wouldn't invade my personal space. Then the lady snapped her glasses and tossed them behind her.

When I glanced back, I saw a girl with long pink hair quickly sweep it up and ran off in an instant. Who were these people? I took a step back into Kaito, who was in the same statue like gaze. Sheesh, he was still obsessing over Miku's well being and it's been more than two months. Meiko was standing in front of us, grinning like the crazy woman she was. Rin stood by Kaito, her eyes entranced by the busybodies running around the studio and Sweet Anne was already away at her station talking to her manager.

"Annie-dear showed me pictures of all of you!" She quickly informed in a lightning fast tone. She waved a picture of all of us sitting around the coffee table doing our daily activities. It was a picture back at the old apartment and I was slightly flabbergasted to find that Sweet Anne had the nerve to keep one with the ratty place as a background. I winced at the sight of Miku sitting on the floor with her hands clutching a cup of coffee and her dull expression on her face.

I, so badly, wanted to swipe the picture away from her, but she retrieved it back into her pocket. This girl was going to get on my nerves. Big time.

"Um…so…Miss Kasane…" Meiko started, but the lady's hand was soon waved in front of the brunette woman's face. Whoa… that's some serious courage right there.

"Shush!" The Kasane character paused. "My territory, my rules, honey." Then she paced backwards, her index finger to her chin and she began swaying right and left.

This chick was seriously weird.

Then she shot into a straight pose and held up her left index finger.

"First of all, my darlings, you call me Teto. TETO. No Miss Kasane."

Then she struck out her right index finger.

"Second of all, I'm thirty-five so don't call me little!"

Thirty-five? I want some proof. Then she put up her right middle finger.

"Third of all, I want you to respond three words to my every one word! Or at least give me some legit response to everything I say!"

Then she struck the left middle finger up. When were these eccentric rules going to end?

"Fourth and more importantly, I'm always watching. So don't go thinking that you can do anything you want in my territory!"

She tilted her head and produced a jubilant smile to us. It might've been called dazzling to some, maybe charming to others, but to me it was like a beast was baring its fangs at me. Teto then spun on her heel, and bounced a bit towards one of the studios for our…ugh…photo shoot.

"So, when Annie-dear showed me the picture of all of you, I just couldn't resist!" Teto started to yammer as we all followed slowly behind her.

I checked out the flashy place. It had busybody people scurrying around carrying clothes and papers. There were some lingering by the food table, but most were just drinking coffee, ignoring the food that made my stomach growl. The models were scarily thin, not to the point of being skeletons but more to the point where they needed some meat transfusion and quick. Flashes of cameras and the smell of heavy make-up wafted through the air and gave me a nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Did these people like throwing clown paint on their faces or something?

"You all looked so great in appearance and there was such chemistry in the pictures that you guys would be perfect for our next edition!" Then we stopped at another hall and preceded going through it, then through a curtain with flashes appearing and disappearing. "Now this is where you'll all get prettied up and ready for your shoot." She winked and I felt really nervous.

Was I going to be starved to death, too?

* * *

The moment we entered the room was the same moment everyone was getting separated. Of course, Rin and I were latched together and brought to the same make-up area. A woman with purple hair slapped some powder over my face and I began coughing like crazy. She gave me an intense look and began brushing my hair, pulling it out of its usual pony tail.

I glanced towards Rin, who was sitting on her chair and was frantically getting bombarded by different cosmetics. Some guy with golden blond hair looked at her with a professional pose and began snipping at her hair. I couldn't see the rest, because my vision was obscured by the different bodies that started crowding around me.

"You got a handsome face, kid!"

"There are some bruises here, but nothing like cover up magic to do its work!"

"Oh this hair needs to be trimmed!"

"You'll be lovely, hun!"

I don't want to be. I just wanna go back home and watch TV.

By the time they were done, the purple haired woman, who I found out was named Defoko, pushed a set of yellow and white clothes into me and dragged me to the guys' dressing room. Crazy people. They need to learn how to slow down so other people could understand them.

Kaito was finished getting measured and he was already dressed in some weird cosplay costume. It looked like a prince's outfit, all blue and white with royal gold colored trims on it. His usual blue muffler was tossed on the chairs and around his neck was a royal blue cape that flowed down his back. He was now slipping on black boots that fit perfectly and he paced around them to see if they were on properly.

I didn't really do anything else, but gawk because he didn't really look like Kaito. His face was cleared from that faint black eye he got recently from getting into a fight with Meiko last week. His hair had its original blue sheen and his eyes had more life in them than usual. All that was missing was that usual goofy grin he wore to perfect his attire.

"You should get dressed, Len." Kaito towered over me. I always hated how tall he was. "Teto isn't going to be pleased if you're late for the shoot."

Then he left.

There were other people there trying on their clothes or stripping them off. I quickly began changing so I wouldn't be caught gawking idly any longer. It was a strange set of clothes; a yellow jacket with black lines, white fitting pants and a pair of long black boots. It wasn't as flamboyant as Kaito's attire, but it's not like I care or anything. Before I could _admire _myself in the mirror any longer, Defoko burst through the doors.

I yelped in surprise as to how she casually entered the dressing room filled with either half naked guys or changing ones, but she did and soon reeled me back to the make-up department. She pulled back my hair after setting me down and tied a black ribbon around it. I checked myself in the mirror. I looked older and calmer than my usual self and it only took them about two hours or so. …I think.

"Time for the shoot," Defoko informed and shoved me towards where everyone else was.

As I stumbled through the crowds of photographers and watchers, I saw the others idling their time there. Rin was wearing a big, yellow dress with black frills and a black headband with a black rose on the side. She looked really elegant with her hands filled with yellow roses and the same flowers blossoming at her feet. They were probably going to add the backdrop in afterwards to make the scene look prettier. I couldn't help but think that my sister looked…pretty.

Her eyes were big and wide and a smile was perched on her lips. She then threw the flowers in the air after the first few shots and held her hands up with her eyes arched closed as she laughed playfully. More camera flashes brightened the dark room and I felt my eyes getting dizzy from them all.

"Marvelous darling! You're a natural!" Teto cooed as she pranced behind the camera, waving around a scroll of papers. "Now I want you to strike fear into the camera! Look at it as if you wanted to destroy someone you hated!" She screamed with passion, her finger nails crippling the papers. "Glare for me, darling!"

Rin glanced at me and I felt the blood stop its tracks inside my body. Was it me that she wanted to destroy?

_…No it was Miku._

I bit my tongue. No, I'm not supposed to think of her.

The roses all fluttered to the ground, then behind the fallen petals was a wicked look. The camera man practically shuddered back and Teto wringed the scrolls in shock. Rin's eyes were narrowed, her lips were pursed and her hand was lifted up, baring her sharpened finger nails. The thirst of blood entered her eyes and it seemed like the whole room froze with anxiety.

Several angles of her pose were shot and Teto nodded to the cameraman. "Okay, Rin-Rin, it's time for the Prince of Blue to enter the scene!"

I looked up to find Kaito causally waltzing passed me and onto the paper like floor. Rin watched him with a blank gaze on her face and it soon transformed into something else… was it… surprise? He walked with grace and held his hand out to her. I leaned in a bit to see his grin slowly returning to his lips and then switched to my sister's face to find that she was hypnotized. Camera flashes came up from all different sides and I winced at how Rin was slowly lifting her hand up to Kaito's.

"Now turn to the cameras!"

Kaito did so, pulling Rin ever so closely to him and held out his arm to the cameras, as if he was presenting her to the world. Rin faced the cameras as well, her hand to her chest and her head closely hovering against Kaito's chest.

Did these two practice that pose?

They seem awfully close…

"Okay Rin-Rin, it's time for a solo shot with Kai-Kaito!" Teto called while everyone lowered their equipment to take a break. My dear, dear sister trudged through the fallen flowers, avoiding people who were cleaning up the floor. She brushed passed me, not uttering a word and disappeared in the busy throng of people. "Okay Kai-Kaito, now you have to…"

I tuned out her overly hyper voice and began craning back and forth to try and find Rin in the crowd. She was still avoiding me and it's bothering me. I don't want my only living family member to hate me, but it felt so awkward actually trying to interact with her. She rejects me at every turn, ignores my every word spoken, and doesn't bother to acknowledge my own existence.

What was I supposed to do?

"Just pose like that! Perfect!" I could hear Teto's purr breaking through my thoughts. Irritating woman.

"Hey, chin up; we're still in line of shooting." Meiko's oh-so-loving voice chirped and I growled. I faced her, seeing she adorned in red armor with a bloody red cape. Was she a lady knight straight out from a fairy tale book?

"How can I cheer up? I'm forced to play doll dress up and was attacked by the twin drill typhoon over there." I directed at Teto who was spouting out random nonsense. "And there's still the problem I have with Rin." Rin was standing by the room's food table, munching on a small, triangular sandwich. "So how am, please just tell me, I supposed to cheer up?"

"Get over it and stop complaining like some pathetic child who can't lift a finger to do anything for themselves."

Way to bring on the harsh truth of reality.

"Anyway, Sweet Anne did a lot to get us these jobs to get some extra money on our hands, so be grateful it's not getting into anymore street fights."

She did have a point but still.

"I feel like a total girl with all this make-up on."

Meiko grinned.

"Don't worry, it fits, I thought you were a girl at first anyway."

"You…bastard!"

* * *

"Okay Len-Len, it's time for you to smile!" _Flash_. "Len-Len, I said smile!" _Flash. Flash_. "LEN-LEN!"

"Smile you idiot!" Rin hissed and I rolled my eyes. I somehow produced what felt like a smile on my lips and Teto grinned in victory. I held Rin's hands in mine, her head lying on the nape of my neck and our arms were spread out as if we were beginning to do some ballroom dance.

"Okay good, Len-Len!"

What was I, some kind of dog?

…And what was up with these weird nicknames?

"Meimiko!" Teto sang and I could see a vein of annoyance pop on Meiko's usually confident face.

I stifled a burst of laughter at her nickname, it was worse than mine!

"Meimiko, it's time for yours and Len-Len's shot!"

When were these going to be over?

"Okay now, I want you two to face each other. Len-Len, you need to be really calm and poised because Meimiko is going point her sword at your neck," Teto informed with a grin. I felt like Meiko was more than pleased by these chains of events and my stomach was busy doing back flips. I wonder if there's ever been a murder on set; if not that, then this will surely be the first and the most memorable.

After Rin waltzed back to the sidelines, Meiko stood in front of me with her shoulders squared, her eyes focused and her sword handling arm extended at my neck. An intense look was expressed on her face and I tried giving the best 'bored' expression I could muster. My arms were casually dangled at my side, my chin was slightly turned upward and my eyes stared boringly into hers.

Flashes began shining everywhere and my eyes started to get heavy. I don't think I can get used to the sudden brightness and darkness from every second.

"You guys are so great at this!" The wannabe thirty-five year old screeched with glee. We both relaxed from our pose and I breathed heavily in relief. That tip of the sword was way too close for my liking.

"Why of course," Meiko said, flicking some of her trimmed brunette strands from her face. "We are professionals in most areas." I grimaced at the type of tone her voice held.

Teto nodded in amazement. "Okay, so for the final pictures, I'm going to be really counting on you guys, so get ready to pose, pose, pose!"

I rolled my eyes at her seemingly endless enthusiasm.

When she left, I decided to survey the rest of the studio we were in. More busybodies were running the place amok, hoping not to disturb the actual models. People who were doing make-up spun around the skeleton models, powdering them or brushing them. If they wanted better lighting then they should turn on actual lights.

These people waste a lot of money on cosmetics.

"Wonder how Anne's doing," Meiko started and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Should we go check on her? Teto doesn't seem like she'll be coming back any time soon."

"I would, but I don't feel like having my energy or sanity drained by that woman."

"The great Meiko is afraid of a girl with no chest and of short stature?" I grinned with delight at the newly found information. Definitely a torture device.

Meiko shot me a demonic glare. It was obvious that my grin began to deflate.

Then she pointed an accusation index finger at me, which made me bend backwards a bit. "You don't know the torture I had to go through with that woman hovering around me!" She screamed, causing the strangers to look at us as if we were going to get into a fight. In all honesty, I think we were.

I flung my hands up in surrender. I didn't feel like getting hurt in front of people who were flaunting about their expensive equipment and clothing. Meiko was being scarily sensitive.

"That creature there is just a bomb waiting to explode and take all of us with her!"

Much too sensitive.

"Uh…so you're not going to come with me to check on Sweet Anne?"

"Just go!"

I ran.

* * *

I ran through the doors of the studio, dodging past irritated employees that shot glared at me and some others that creepily gave me flirtatious looks. …I really hoped that they wouldn't do anything to me while I checked on Sweet Anne. I shivered.

I'd rather have Meiko twist my arm back and crack it in half.

Yeah, I'm not a very optimistic person.

I pushed back some doors, slithered around some people and finally got to where the models go for their make-up and other stuff. I couldn't find Sweet Anne, not very hard since she's pretty leggy and tall and whatnot.

Now where could she be?

"Hey, come back here!"

Crap, was that person talking to me?

"Just try to catch me!"

"Why you little brat! Just because Teto approves of you doesn't mean the same thing for me! NOW RETURN SO WE COULD TAKE THE SHOT!"

Seems like this person was more trouble than they were worth!

A laugh rang in the air. It sounded pretty breathless, but also full of mischief.

"You can't capture me so easily!"

Where was this happening?

"Mi-ki-ki!"

I turned and whoever this crazy girl was slammed into me. She began scrambling all over the place – scratching me in the process – and finally got up breathing like crazy.

"Oh shit! Sorry kiddo!"

…kiddo?

She barely looked older than I me!

"Oh right, I'm in a bit of a hurry so…" She trailed, her eyes frantically looking around.

She was a weird chick. Red hair, white dress with blue lines and some lines around her body parts that made her look like a robot.

"Yeah go ask an employee here if you're lost, servant boy."

"Servant boy?" I repeated.

She gave me a look, screaming that I must be an idiot.

"Those clothes are from the story board of the Evil series. You're modeling as the servant, right?"

I was the servant? What the hell?

"…crap I have to go before—"

"Mi-ki-ki," A stern voice called out and it sound ghostly familiar. This Mi-ki-ki person froze in fear and slowly turned around in fear.

"O-O-Oh…K-K-Ku-oneesama…!"

…Ku-oneesama?

"I-I was…a-and…"

"Mi-ki-ki, you're supposed to be with La-Lily to do the shot."

Okay who was this person?

"Hey, whoever the hell you are, she's jus—"

…shit.

The Joker of the Night stood before me.

She stood there with such a calm look on her face; it was as if we were perfect strangers. She was dressed in a beautiful – did I just say beautiful? – green dress with ribbons all over the side and showed her bare shoulders and some cleavage. The sleeves were long and loose, and her hair was tied into one large pony tail with a matching green ribbon wrapped around it.

"I-I was just…"

She grabbed my arm and flashed a phony smile with all her teeth showing.

"Showing this kid here to the right studio! Right? _Right?_"

This chick was desperate, but I nodded.

I could barely form any coherent words.

The Joker – Miku – gave the girl a suspicious look and sighed. Then she swept her eyes to me, barely having any emotions or any evidence of recognition.

She sighed and shined an uncharacteristically warm smile. I cringed. My elbow jerked into Mi-ki-ki's rib cage and she flinched back.

"What the hell's your problem, you bastard?" She screamed.

I jolted awake from my confused trance. What?

"…what?"

"Don't you _what _me; you sorry excuse for a model, you _hurt _me!"

What was this girl's problem?

"What, no apology? Pfft. The kids these days are ju-"

"That's enough Mi-ki-ki." The tone of _her _voice deepened, shutting the vulgar mouthed female. Miku had a shadow in her eyes and I felt fear crawling up my smile.

She looked ready to kill.

"S-Sorry Ku-oneesama!"

"Now, Mi-ki-ki, go return to your shoot with La-Lily," She paused, lingering her eyes on me. "I have other business to attend to."

"Y-Yes, Ku-oneesama!"

She left.

And all there was left were two: Myself, shaking in his leather black boots, and her, still as air in her green dress.

"Let's talk."

I gulped in anxiety.

* * *

She led me out of the studio we were in, her hands in front of her legs, folded together.

I was in a blender of confusion, fear and hesitation.

She produced an atmosphere that made my feet to the point of immobility and I dropped to the floor when we entered what seemed like a deserted hall way. Finally she turned to face me and I had to gaze up just to see her eyes.

She was pretty.

…I mean, it was probably just the make-up that fixed her. Yeah, just the make-up; the people were skilled enough to make Meiko look feminine so yeah… just the make-up. It's not like I really think she was pretty, no way. Just no way.

"Sweet Anne is in Studio B, you walked in Studio D."

Oh yeah, I was looking for Sweet Anne, wasn't I?

"Just take a left from here and you'll find her."

Was that it?

Wait, how'd she know we were here?

"How'd you know I was looking for her?" I paused and hissed another breath inside my lungs. "Does she know you're here?"

"She doesn't."

Way to answer my first question, Joker.

I decided to forget about the first question; it didn't really matter.

"Why are you back here?"

"Leon told me to come here."

I gritted my teeth. "He's dead!"

"He told me to come here."

"He's dead!"

She was getting on my nerves as usual. Why couldn't she accept the fact that he's dead? He's never going to come back and nothing's going to become right again. Why, just why can't she face reality? She was too much of an idealist to face it!

"Stop bringing him up!"

Her eyes bored into mine and I felt a chilling sensation. I hugged myself in a vain attempt at keeping myself warm.

"He told me."

"He's dead."

I was getting sick of saying that.

"So am I."

What?

"Go to the left, you'll find her."

She turned and began walking away. I scrambled to my feet, the cold still brewing on my back and chased after her. I grabbed her shoulder and forced her to turn around.

Tears were in her eyes.

Shit.

"She's there. You'll find her."

Why is she repeating that?

The tears began to fall and she blinked them away, not touching her face.

"…who are you?"

She gave me a psychotic looking smile. It made my heart skip several beats in dreadful fear. She looked like she was ready to grab a knife and drive it through my chest until it was well into my heart to take it out. My teeth started to clatter.

The wintery sensation was turning into a blizzard on my back.

"My name is Hatsune Miku; I am the Joker of the Night."

* * *

Sorry this took a while longer to update because I couldn't find any good ideas since people liked the previous chapters, I wondered on how to portray this one. As an extra kind of thing, originally, I was going to have Miku pose with them, but then the idea died on me because it didn't really go with the flow of the story. Then I was thinking, "Maybe I should just have Len become paranoid when he sees some Miku look-alike?" but then that idea died on me too. So I decided for the two to talk, creating some development and they needed some interaction as a rickety jump start for the pairing.

I really liked using Teto here. I didn't know which character would be eccentric enough, then I remembered Teto! Happy belated birthday to her, by the way. The Utauloids made their appearances here, like Defoko, Teto, Momoko and Sora; I was going to add more, but decided against it.

I couldn't be creative so I just used the Evil series as their model stuff. Why modeling? Well, since I made Sweet Anne a model, and I had a random Hana Kimi flash back where the characters had temporary modeling jobs, I just used the idea by merging them together. It worked with getting a chapter up at least!

Also, I'm trying to make the chapters as lengthy as possible, so quick updates aren't going to occur very often I'm afraid!

~Ventus


	4. A brother's sacrifice

Facing the consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

Thank you to those who reviewed! Thanks to those who read!

Please tell me if there's anything that needs to be fixed or if there's any questions then go on and ask away, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to answer them accurately if it concerns the plot. ...I don't even know where this is going.

Thirteen pages here people, give me some time to work on the next one, please~?

Also, the ending of the previous chapter was _supposed _to be confusing!

Please enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4

The tears kept falling and I don't think she was going to do anything to stop them. Her body didn't tremble and her voice didn't shake.

I guess even when the Joker cries, she doesn't at the same time.

_A cruel joke._

"That's not what I meant."

_What did I mean?_

"Who are you?"

_Why am I asking her this?_

"My name is Hatsune Miku and I am the Joker of the Night."

_You sound like you're lying._

"I know."

_Then why am I asking?_

"Leon told me to come here."

"He's dead."

"I'm dead."

"You're alive."

_Were we playing a game?_

"You're alive, I'm dead."

"Stop playing with me."

Her lips broke into another psychotic smile. I winced. She was seriously scaring me.

"Why are you like this?"

_I need to know._

"Len." The way she said my name sounded strangely soothing. "I'm not strong, so please go; I don't want you or the others to see me."

"…I…"

"Please Len, I hate crying."

Her lips finally began to tremble and so did her body. Was she beginning to crack?

"You have to go." She pushed back my hand, and began pushing me away from her. I didn't bother standing firmly on the ground, it wasn't worth it. "You have to go, Len."

"I…don't want to."

"Yes, you do."

She gave me another shove and I staggered back. Her eyes were still producing tears and I couldn't shake off the feeling that this scene wasn't right. It was like some destruction of logic. The Joker of the Night never cried. She never cried. She wasn't supposed to cry.

Before I noticed anything else, she stepped towards me and treaded her finger tips against my skin. I winced once more. Her fingers were cold, but they were relaxing against my now heated skin. My face felt really hot and soon her entire being was closing in on me while I began back up. She followed like a loyal pup does to its owner.

Soon my back was against the wall, her fingers were still treading themselves on my warm cheeks and she was still inching closer. Her eyes didn't gaze into mine, but mine sure as hell gazed into hers. My heart was racing and I felt my body shaking.

I know I'm not one to watch romantic shit on TV, but ever since we've lived in the house Sweet Anne picked, the TV has been prone to showing the stuff whenever Rin or her have control over the controller. So, I have no idea if I'm right, is this where something…uh…happens? Okay I had to face the facts; I think she was going to kiss me.

I could feel her breath and caught a floral scented perfume wafting from her. Instead of doing what I expected her to do; she pulled me into a tight embrace. Her arms were wrapped around my neck and she resumed tracing her fingers onto my neck instead. She was incredibly warm. It was really unimaginable to find out that the robotic maid herself could be so warm.

However, I was pretty flustered though; I could feel her developed chest while she hugged me. I thought she was flat, to be completely honest. No, I'm not a pervert, I'm not!

"Can we stay like this for a few seconds?"

My face heated up. W-What?

"Please?"

She sounded so desperate and so vulnerable …and sad. I was hovering over my options of either doing as she wishes or pushing her way. The force of her tracing deepened and I cringed.

"S-Sure…"

Oh great, I was stuttering now. How come my mind can be so confident with words while my voice was betraying me? I'm not supposed to care about this woman. Why was she affecting me so much? I didn't hold her or anything, my hands were still stunned at my sides and my arms were tense. There wasn't really any thought processing in my head as to what I should do.

She began mumbling words, burying her face into my shoulder. There was a particular phrase that I caught while deciphering her string of incoherent sentences.

"…stay like this…Mikuo…"

Who?

She slipped her fingers away from my neck and quickly took a step back, releasing her hold on me. No…I didn't want the warmth to go away. The chilling sensation came back and deleted all the warmth that previously wrapped itself around me. Her eyes swept left to right and the sound of people coming this way echoed in the hall. She bit her lower lip.

"You have to go."

"I'm not leaving."

I felt too vulnerable to leave.

"Mikuo, go!"

She said someone else's name. The feeling of a rusty knife drove straight through my chest. I chewed the inside of my cheek. If I bit hard enough then I could probably tasted the metallic nature of my blood. It was better than the taste of Rin's bitter tears from before, I'm hoping.

Was she thinking of whomever this guy was instead of recognizing it was me? My chest felt like a rusty steel pipe was digging itself into it and I instinctively reached up and clawed at my chest. The pain pulsed harder every time my heart created a beat. Why?

"I'm not him!"

She froze and I could see her eyes widened by the sudden revelation. Did I do something wrong?

"O-Of course, you're not him." She shook her head. "You're not him, yes, I was mistaken."

"Who is he?" I pushed. She was keeping too many secrets from me. Everyone was keeping secrets from me. When was it going to be my time to finally grab a thread of truth from the blanket of lies everyone had going?

"You need to go; you're still in need of the photo shoot after all."

Before I could say anything, she turned around and dashed off. I hissed a curse when Defoko and that blond haired guy, Sora, brushed past her.

"Was that Ku-oneesama?" Sora questioned with perplexity in his voice.

Defoko nodded, but shifted her attention from him to me. "Teto wants you back."

I growled in dissatisfaction.

The Joker of the Night disappeared again.

* * *

Meiko wasn't too happy with me and she continually yelled at me while we were driving back home with Kaito behind the wheel. Rin fell asleep by the window with Sweet Anne between us and Meiko sitting in the passenger's seat up front. I had my arms crossed and sunk further into my seat. The radio was playing softly in the background and Kaito didn't really say much.

Sweet Anne was trying to calm Meiko down, but her efforts were futile. When the alcohol loving demon gets angry, there's no way in stopping her.

"Please Meiko-nee, Len just got lost! It's an honest mistake to confuse the different studios!"

"Honest mistake my ass! He wasn't supposed to wander around!"

"Meiko, I think you're stretching this out of proportion."

"Shut up Bakatio!"

"M-Meiko-nee!"

In all honesty, I wasn't really paying attention. All I could hear was the sound of the wheels scratching against the street and the muffled roaring of the engine. My thoughts were all jumbled up about how I bumped into Miku and how she kept mentioning this Mikuo person. By the sound of their names, I know they're related.

I furrowed my brows, clenching my teeth, my fingers tapping against my arms.

She wasn't supposed to matter to me. She's not supposed to make an impact on me. She didn't care about me. She doesn't. She was only doing what Leon told her to do. Whatever it is he told her.

Leon was our, mine and Rin's, uncle so why did he give Miku some weird and mysterious order? Wasn't Meiko or Kaito or even me good enough for him to tell whatever he was telling Miku? Was I nothing to him?

I shook my head, feeling my newly trimmed hair slapping my face. I have to pull it up again; long hair was annoying.

What made Miku so freaking special?

…I think I was getting obsessed.

I needed to clear my head. There was nothing to worry about. Leon didn't want me to know about anything that he didn't think I should know about. Yeah that was it. I mean, he didn't want anyone to tell me about Mikuo was because he wasn't important.

He shouldn't be important because he—

_"…her brother died."_

Kaito's voice rang inside my head and my eyes shot wide open. I quickly hid my surprise until we were parked in the drive way of our house. When Kaito twisted the keys off in the ignition, my hands flew to the handle of the car, flung it wide open and I jumped out.

"Where do you think you're going?" Meiko called for me while she was getting out from her door.

I didn't think, more like I wasn't able to process everything, and I bounded off.

"Len!" They all screamed, but I ignored them. I had to run away to think of some stuff. Besides, it's not like I couldn't protect myself. I wasn't directionally challenged and I memorized the place so I could hitch a ride on a taxi or something.

Mikuo was Miku's brother, and he died, so…I reminded Miku of Mikuo? Was that the reason she took care of me and scolded me? Did she just see her brother when she looked at me? Was I just some sort of replacement?

Actually, the answer I want most is:

Why am I thinking about her?

* * *

"We were worried about you."

How did I end up here?

"I had a feeling you were going here."

"Shut up."

"You're so predictable."

"Then you'd know I was gonna come back."

He stayed silent and pulled up a chair beside Lola's bed. If you didn't realize it, I somehow ended up visiting Lola without any recollection of what happened in between me running off and ending up here. She was still and only the sound of the mechanical ventilator made sound between the three of us.

"Y'know, Leon and Lola were going to get married."

"…I know."

"They really wanted you and Rin as their children."

"I know."

"We were going to clean our lives after paying all the debts."

"And we are cleaning our lives."

"Not in the way that Leon wanted."

"We're out of that place."

"Physically yes, but mentally, we're still there."

"Out of sight, out of mind."

"Face it, Len, you can't keep running away from your problems."

I banged my fist against the wall. There was some part of me that hoped that would wake Lola up and fix the whole mess, but another part knew that wouldn't happen. A simple punch to the wall wouldn't wake up a person in a coma. No matter how much I wished it did.

Instead of responding, I dragged myself towards Lola, my eyes hovering over her cold face and I slowly searched for her hand under the white blankets. I forgot how warm she used to be, how loud she used to laugh, how strong she was when she swung her frying pan against Leon's head. I chuckled softly to myself. Lola always made me laugh even when I was in a bad mood. She was so whimsical and so energetic twenty four seven if she was sick, injured or tired.

Even if she was in her "I'm-going-to-murder-you" moods, she always had that comical side of her attached to her words. Then… my hand clutched hers and I wished that gave a spark of life to her comatose body. Then a stupid disease caught her and she was paralyzed. When were you going to wake up, Lola? When? How long am I going to keep hoping you were going to wake up one night and show up at the door with open arms?

My hand gripped hers again. I hope I didn't look too emotional since Kaito was in the room. He didn't do anything nor say anything; I guess he was just sitting there. There wasn't really much to look at in the hospital room. The door was slight ajar with plain uniformed doctors and nurses pacing around the squeaky clean hall ways with those annoying fluorescent lights. The walls here had paint chipping away and two plain beds with machines around them. A curtain sliced the room in two and an old TV was suspended on one of the corners.

A vase of withering flowers was set on a desk beside Lola and I glared at them. Those flowers had better not be some kind of twisted foreshadowing of Lola's future. I'd better get her new ones.

"Don't you have any questions to ask me? You were in a brooding mood when you returned to Studio C."

He noticed me? I thought his mind would be too preoccupied with Miku. I flinched again. Crap, I don't wanna be thinking about her while I was standing by Lola's bed side. I released her hand and leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor. When was I going to have a moment of peace in this thick skull?

"Ask away, I'm sure Lola would want you to know at least _something_."

I juggled around my options. There were so many things that they hid from me, but I knew that there would be several that Kaito would refrain from asking. He'd probably say that I wasn't rational enough to handle it.

"…what's Mikuo's story?"

Kaito shot me a wary look, glancing back to Lola then to me. Was this question the one he would refrain from answering?

"I-I remember you saying that you guys were the reason her brother died, but…" He held his hand towards me, silencing my stumbling words. He shook his head and breathed deeply, twisting the chair around so he could face me.

"It started back to when Leon and Lola found Miku and Mikuo. We all suspected Mikuo to be the oldest, but apparently we were wrong. They were about a little under ten, from what I can remember, but after a few years since they joined, they showed great promise. Both of them were ready to make it big in the club we used to own-"

Wait, hold up.

"Club?" I repeated with eyebrows furrowing. "You guys used to own a _club_?"

Kaito nodded with a calm look. "Yeah, you and Rin would be in the back room playing."

We played in a club? What the hell?

"Leon owned it, calling it Vocaloid. Anyway, in the basement, there was some illegal gambling going on down there. We'd send some people willing to play against our trump card-"

"Miku."

He nodded once more. "Yeah Miku, she had incredible intuition and was our…champion, I guess, in the underground gambling." He sighed with exasperation. "Fourteen and was already gambling; I had no idea why Leon wanted a little girl to deal with all those brutes."

"Continue."

"Right…" Kaito breathed in before continuing, "Well there was a guy who complained about Miku cheating, of course she would never, but she didn't know about this. Leon tried calming this person, but when he couldn't, Lola kicked him to the curb. He came back again while Lola was busy manning down the bar area, so Meiko and I dealt with him. We brought him to the park close by, but he decided to play dirty and got his own gang behind him.

"We got beaten pretty hard; Anne came just in time to stall the guys, but then they started circling her. I tried to get up to help her, but I wasn't able to and Meiko was out cold. I was about to call Leon for help, but that was when Miku came in and tried dealing with them by picking up the fight. I told her to go home, but I noticed something different about her."

I nodded slowly when he paused and hissed a breath; he sounded while he was going to break down crying sometime soon. There was no way in the back of my mind that I was going to be able to calm him down.

"She started out fine, and then…came the ambush."

"A knife went into the mix, didn't it?"

He winced and strangled his scarf. "The wig came off and Mikuo was gasping in pain. Anne was too freaked to do anything so I sent her off to pick up Meiko and run off to get Leon or Lola and she did so I was left to take care of Mikuo. I took the knife out and knocked out the guy who stabbed him, and when Leon finally came he took out the other guys. Mikuo didn't last and Miku was crying for days after his death. We gave him his own personal funeral and that was that.

"…and that's Mikuo's story; he lived protecting his sister and died doing just that," Kaito finally finished and all there was left was a heavy silence.

That was some pretty heavy stuff, and I knew I got the summarized version of it. So Mikuo pretended to be Miku to calm down the other guys and that was when he got stabbed in the back disguising his self to be his sister. I guess that makes sense, I mean, I'd do the same for Rin if she were threatened to get killed.

"So Mikuo heard everything and decided to play hero," I mused, earning a nasty glare from the usually goofy Kaito. I sucked in a terrified breath. Damn, never knew the guy could be so frightening.

"He and Miku shared a really close bond; she was broken when he died. She wouldn't eat for days, slept in most of the weeks and didn't talk to anyone for months." She sounded like she was trying to die a slow, painful death. "She kept blaming herself with his death and didn't listen to us."

"Is this why she's been like a robot when she was with us?" And how she kept seeing me as Mikuo?I didn't add in that last part, it felt like a stab in my pride when I thought about it.

He heaved a deep sigh and nodded solemnly. "She was deluding herself, thinking that if she took care of us then she could make up for what happened with Mikuo." He scoffed a bit. "She was putting too much of a burden on herself."

"Just because of Mikuo?"

"…Actually…she was doing it because she felt like she could repay the debt to Leon for taking in Mikuo."

Leon? There it is again. What was Leon's connection to Miku that went above all else? And what was it that made Miku think she had to shut herself down to repay Leon? So many questions, so little amounts of answers. I glanced at Lola. She would know everything, but she's not awake. It doesn't seem like she'll ever be awake.

Lola…was the mom I've always wanted.

"What did Leon tell Miku to do?"

Kaito raised a brow. He had the look that questioned my own and I was aghast as to how he didn't even know what I was talking about. "What are you talking about? Miku never spoke to Leon while we were in the hospital."

What?

"B-But Miku kept saying that Leon kept telling her to do all this stuff!" I exclaimed, shooting up onto my feet.

"Len," The usually clumsy man said with a strict tone. "Do you know something?"

I looked at him with wide eyes and came to a conclusion.

Lie.

* * *

"Len," Sweet Anne's voice was like a breath of fresh air. There wasn't any scorn or question in it, it was just pure kindness. I pulled back my hair from my face and slipped myself up from the bottom of the filled bathtub. "Sweetie, you're going to be late for lunch."

I sighed. "Your manager's here, isn't he?"

"Regrettably yes, so Meiko took shelter in the garage."

I scowled. I didn't like the guy; he barely even acknowledged any of us as human even when we stood right there in front of him. All he cared about was getting Sweet Anne famous and being punctual. I usually tried hiding away in my room or climbing to the roof in order to avoid encountering him.

"I don't wanna see _Mister-Everything-Needs-To-Be-On-Time _Tonio; he kills the mood with his pen."

I splashed around. It's only been about three minutes since I even started the bath and _now _she warns me about him? Talk about unprepared.

"Tonio is a nice man; he's just not used to all of you yet." It's so like Sweet Anne to try to sugar coat everything. The truth of the matter is that Tonio despised us. Well that is until we made a few pages in the newest edition of that modeling magazine we were debuted in. He was harassing us to no end about how he should manage all of us so we could make it big. Of course, I refused – as did Kaito and Meiko – while Rin contemplated on the idea.

Even though we did get a nice check with the modeling job, they cut out some as punishment for some random fight that Meiko started. I think it was because of Teto or something.

"Len, please!"

I shivered. I hated when Sweet Anne started begging. "Alright m-mom!" Yeah… that wasn't really easy to spit out.

Well Mr. Punctual, it's time for your least favorite to come out.

I hope you're ready.

I gave a grin at my devious thought.

It was safe to say that Tonio was definitely reconsidering hiring me as a professional model when he stormed out of the house. Of course that sludge of cake on his back along with the home made spaghetti toupee was my way of saying, "No thank you" to his offer. As he stormed out, he gave me the evil eye and I cracked an innocent grin.

Kaito stopped himself from laughing as he offered to let Tonio clean up in our bathroom while Rin was panicking over how I could do something like that to him. It wasn't really my fault that I tripped over the leg of my chair and my plate of spaghetti just happened flung at him. Anyway, the cake wasn't my fault either, Meiko was the one who was enraged with him mentioning Teto and her inner beast took over. So I have to say that the punishment of doing double the chores was worth it to see how the scene played out.

…though it was also worth it to hear Sweet Anne's sigh of relief when Tonio left.

I always knew there was a dark side to her after all!

* * *

My back was against the wall and I stared blankly at the old photo in my hand. It was the same one that made Sweet Anne cry while we were packing up in our old place. Kaito slipped it into my hands before he started shifting all the boxes around in our room.

"This isn't…Miku…I'm guessing." I turned the photo around in all angles to check if I was right.

"Yeah, it's really Mikuo."

"He looked like a girl."

Kaito chuckled, opening up a box and swatting away a small puff of dust. "We all thought that too, so we got those two mixed up all the time." He began taking out some older folders and binders. "They would play tricks on us all the time and would even dress as the other for laughs… well that is until they started growing up."

I felt my face heat up a bit. I think I felt the faint feel of Miku's chest. I slapped myself louder than I had originally planned. Kaito gave me a look and scowled.

"Don't think about Miku like that!" He scolded and I flung my hands up in the air, my fingers still holding onto the photo.

"K-Kaito! I-I wa-wasn't!" It wasn't my fault that she pr—He threw a binder straight at me and I fell to my left, knocking my head into the other wall. "THAT HURT!" I wailed, trying to soothe the places I got hurt in those few seconds. Kaito seriously had a temper! Was Sweet Anne the only adult here that could control it? Seriously?

"Get those thoughts of out the gutter, Len!"

"K-Kaito!"

After multiple scolding lectures and folders later…

Kaito stalked off to grab himself a tub of ice cream and enjoy it on the couch, watching movies with the other two women. I managed to recollect myself and crawled out of my room to find that Rin's door was ajar and that she was silently doing homework in it. Speaking of homework… I should really get to doing mine.

I slithered my way into her room and closed the door with a loud slam. She jumped in shock on her new bed and glared at me with the intensity of the sun itself. I felt like I was going to slowly burn to a crisp and then turn into ash. That wasn't a very pleasing thought, considering how we _still _weren't on good terms with one another.

"Hey Rin."

She didn't speak; instead she only resumed writing some essay that I didn't care about. This was getting nowhere fast.

"Do you mind if we talk?"

I really needed someone to distract me from my running mind; it was getting tired and sick of running around, fishing for answers. The sound of the pencil against the paper started speeding up and I could tell she was getting frustrated.

"Rin…"

Then she stopped when the tip broke off from the wood. Her head lifted up and the glare was still in place. Did she hate me that much?

"What do you want?" She spat and I winced. She never raised her voice to me.

"I just want to talk." I had to use proper English, no slang; if I start with any slang or cursing then she's going to break and I can't let that happen.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Rin, we're siblings, I don't want anything to come between us."

That did it. The pencil snapped in half and the sounded left an endless echo in the small room. Her eyes had a mix of betrayal, anger and hatred; three painful emotions that I created. I bit the inside of my cheek. This was not supposed to happen, but I let it happen. Am I biggest idiot in the world or what?

"You let her come between us."

Not this again. I wasn't in love with Miku. I never loved her. In reality, she never existed.

"You chose her two times over me."

There she goes again! I don't remember even choosing her once before!

"For the love of it all, Rin, please tell me when I ever did that!" I cried out in utter frustration. I was really hoping that she could finally stop talking in riddles and give me a straight answer. That's all I've ever wanted when this twisted solace even started.

Her lips were pursed toward and her eyes began getting misty. The image of Miku instantly appeared in my mind when we were back in that deserted hall. Except instead of a psychotic smile, Rin gave me a hurt one that pierced my heart.

"When we were younger… you… you…" She pushed her binder away with the pencil tumbling down from the bed to the floor. "You said you liked Miku better. You kept saying that Miku was going to make everything better as if I wasn't good enough for you."

That was it? "Rin, we were kids back then, I just saw Miku as some grown up so I ju—"

"Shut up! You said she'd make everything better! You practically said that she made you _happy_. You made me feel like some worthless pile of trash!" She whipped her hands to her face, wiping away the tears in vain.

I felt completely immobilized.

_"You're an idiot."_

Thank you Miku for _always _making me feel better.

"And again, even when you're with me, you STILL think about her!" I-Is she reading my mind or something? Can she see it as clear as day or something?

More tears fell and I felt my life slowly slipping away, breaking into two. My one and only living family member was crying because of me. She was beginning to crack like fragile glass because of me. She acted like a hollow shell because of _me_. I hope that this sick pattern was going to end because I know that everything that happened between us was going to end with me taking responsibility.

This was unfair.

All of it.

Every fiber of this entire situation was just… just…

"Unfair."

"W-What?" Rin questioned weakly through her sobs.

"This whole thing with us is unfair." I clenched my fists, looking at her straight in the eye. "Rin, for the recent years of our lives, I've always had to comfort you and do everything for you _just _so you wouldn't break down and have some panic attack!" I flailed my arms for exaggerating, watching her every move.

"B-But—"I waved my hand at her, dismissing her interruption.

"I gave up everything I wanted to do _just _so you could be happy and feel secure. I rejected all those girls from school because I knew you felt insecure when I was with them; I wasn't able to make any friends because you hovered around and I wasn't even able to eat lunch in the cafeteria _because _you liked it better with us having a private meal! You were suffocating me, Rin, and I didn't think I could take it, but I did, because you were happy. I _wanted _you to be happy.

"Then you wanted more than what I could give you, Rin. You wanted me to be something I didn't want to be. You wanted me to be your lover, you wanted me to give up my non-existent feelings for you and do whatever at your every beck and call. It drove me insane to know that every kiss we had was a lie because you convinced yourself that this was what you wanted. It wasn't, was it?"

I gave her a hard look, taking in a deep breathing after my speech. Rin was frozen, her mouth was slight agape and her eyes were still tearing up, but they lessened. I didn't give her another chance to retort.

"For me, that's not what I wanted. I wanted a sister who wouldn't break down and come crying at the slightest of offenses. I wanted a sister who was happy for her brother and was able to do things on her own. I wanted a sister who wasn't some spoiled brat who needed her brother to give her the affection she desired! So face it, Rin, I can't force myself to love you, I can't go on living in some cage waiting for you to need me – to _use _me – when you think you have to have me close by."

I felt my voice shaking, but I couldn't stop. It felt so good to vent out these feelings.

"And you never listened to what _I _wanted to say. You keep saying that you want to help me, but you only say that to make yourself feel better. So just look in the damn mirror and get over the harsh reality that you're not the only one in my world anymore!"

Rin squeaked out some sort of hoarse sound and I breathed in once more. It felt so… self-fulfilling to finally confront Rin about what I've been trying so desperately to hide all these years. I guess this fight was what I needed to finally do something for me, and it was great. I never even fathomed the thought of venting all of this.

Again, it felt good.

_"I don't have a choice." _

_"Yes you do." _

…y'know what, Miku? I guess I did have a choice after all.

Rin began to cry again. This time, though, it didn't faze me. "I-I… I-I… I just wanted to show that I loved you! You kept disappearing all the time I-I… I thought I was going to lose you and…a-and…"

"Just…stop Rin; I...don't wanna hear it." I began turning away and allowed my hand to hover over the door knob.

"W-Wait, Len!"

"What?"

"…d-do you…still…l-love me?"

"As a brother should love his sister."

I left before she could ask any more questions and felt a grin stitch itself on my lips.

I felt free.

* * *

This chapter was so hard for me to write ==" There was so much to write here because I promised to clear some things up, but I have no idea if I caused any more confusion or actually did what I promised.

I seriously wanted to end the whole Len x Rin thing I had at the beginning and thought that Len was stressed enought that he should be able to vent at least one of his major problems. I wasn't bashing on Len x Rin, really, I wasn't. ...believe me.

I think the scene at the beginning was a Len x Miku moment, right? Please say it was == I feel like I disappointed some people who were waiting for some romance to bloom between them. That was just the first step in their relationship. Len's just a confused kid, and Miku is the matured young woman, so yeah, romance between them isn't going to happen just like that ._.

Also, I mentioned somewhere in the fic that Len had homework to do, so I'll explain down here. Len actually started going to school in between chapters, so why didn't I add the scenes of him going to school in this chapter? It didn't come up as important so I didn't. I'll always do a filler chapter if you guys want?

~Ventus


	5. Losing yourself

Facing the consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

Thank you to those who reviewed! Thanks to those who read!

Please tell me if there's anything that needs to be fixed or if there's any questions then go on and ask away, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to answer them accurately if it concerns the plot. ...I don't even know where this is going.

Big thanks to Crizix for beta reading!

Please enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5

Sweet Anne was furiously brushing my hair, muttering about the number of tangles and knots she found in it. I winced and flinched here and there while she did this torturous method of fixing my hair. I don't see the reason why she was making such a big deal out of this. Then with even more incoherent muttering, she yanked the brush from my hair and tossed it back to the counter.

"I should just get Miriam to brush your hair."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Not my fault that my hair doesn't like to get tamed either. Besides, I'm a guy, and just because I have long hair doesn't mean I have to comb it like a girl's. It seemed like a complete waste of time to me.

"Really, Len, if you don't like me combing your hair then cut to something like Kaito-nii's!"

I puffed my cheeks. This was going nowhere fast.

"_Or _you don't have to brush it and I could just put it in its usual pony tail…?"

She scoffed before rolling her eyes at my sarcastic remark.

"Fine then! I'm just going to make breakfast then!" With that retort she stormed off into the kitchen and I pulled back my hair, tying it into its short tail. Ah…better.

It was another morning of school and it's been exactly four months since we started living here. Kaito started becoming livelier after our talk – probably because he was happy to know that Miku was doing well. I wasn't exactly the best liar when it came to the situation where I didn't know what to say, so he kinda forced the truth out of me.

I told him everything about what happened in the studio hallways, and even though he was glad she was fine, he was mad at me for not telling him sooner. This guy could seriously keep a grudge, but at least he wasn't bagging me on thinking about Miku's chest – which I don't think about!

Rin skipped towards the couch and jumped beside me with a bowl of cereal in her hands. She began munching spoonful after spoonful, not paying me any mind.

We weren't really on bad terms anymore, or at least I hope not, but it was more like she had her own life to live that didn't concern me. At school she would just exchange a few words, during lunch she would get pulled aside with some other girls and after school she would run off into some clubroom. I barely even socialized with her anymore and it's been getting sorely on my nerves. At home she casually had small talk with me, but she leaned to talking more with the others.

What was up with that?

We were family, and family has to stick together, right?

At least that's what Leon kept telling me when he was still around. He always made me promise to watch over my sister just in case anything happened. However, how am I supposed to watch her when she evades my watchful eye? It's not like I'm sort of creature with a million eyes all over his body.

Even though Rin segregated herself from me, she was still causing me more stress.

Although, I am a bit more relieved that she's living her own life and I don't have to be her ugh…lover anymore.

Enough talk about that, it was time for breakfast and having to deal with a more than miffed Meiko. I guess she was pissed off at someone at the gym yesterday. She was ranting to mainly Sweet Anne through bits and pieces of her bacon strips with her hand clenched around a swig of milk. I guess it was too early for alcohol for her.

"So this guy just walks up to me, causing some…"

I drowned her out while mixing some scrambled eggs with bacon strips. I didn't feel like doing anything.

* * *

Music class.

It was an alright class, but the thing that annoyed me the most was that there were always people asking me to do duets with them. It was fine at first, y'know it helped with my ego, but then it got annoying. Maybe I wanted to do a solo for once? Didn't anyone ever think about that?

I was sitting by the window, back corner, away from the door. I just like being away from stuff, y'know. It helps me relax and I liked looking out the window, it's like the perfect place to daydream.

"Hey Kagamine-kun, do you want to be practice duet partners?"

I glanced up to see that Tei girl, she was twiddling with a strand of ghostly white hair. She looked like a complete wreck and girls were glaring daggers at her. If you haven't noticed, I gained quite the fan club. I even snuck a peek at their meeting; it freaked me out, but amused me to no end. Those girls really needed to get outside more if they think they had a chance with me.

I flashed them a grin and saw some of them get flustered or turned on. What a laugh. I'll let them think they have a chance just so school could be more amusing. Yeah, I know. I'm such a bastard.

"Sure, Sukone." I liked Tei, she was cool. At least she didn't squeal every time I looked her way or made rumors that I was interested in her. Sure she looked incredibly broken, but hey, I've been in a situation with a broken girl…did Miku count? If she did then I guess I dealt with two broken girls and Tei would be the third.

It feels like I'm a magnet to these kinds of people.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but a problem free person would be fine too, just someone to break the pattern, to give me some piece of mind. Tei looked ecstatic at my agreement at being partners and when we sang, I tried to refrain from flinching every time she hit a note. When she looked my way, I flashed a reassuring smile that made her return it back with ease.

At the very least she wasn't shivering from those girls' glares.

"Um…Sukone, how about dropping the pitch, it'll help with hitting the right notes," I suggested, restraining a flinch for the umpteenth time. She gave me a wary look, but nodded and her singing got slightly better. Oh well, at least my ears weren't ringing anymore.

After class, everyone started packing up. I already left the class, took the turn to the left to get to my locker and found a disgusting sight. Remember, girls were nothing but trouble.

I swung my bag over my shoulder, took a deep breath and began striding towards the revolting event.

Bullying. Five to one. How pathetic.

"Hey Tei-chan, sorry for making you wait," I called out in a monotonous tone. I sucked at acting, sue me.

Tei looked over at me with hopeful eyes, as she unraveled her arms from the top of her head. Oh great. Her uniform was messed up and her eyes were already streaming with tears. Her eyes were watery and bloodshot. She reminded me too much of Miku and Rin when they broke down in tears. I couldn't help but flinch because of the images that flashed in my mind. Why did girls _always _have to cry around me? Did I do something wrong to make them cry?

I shook my head. Was it my fault again?

"A-Ah Kagamine-kun!" A girl with long black hair with twin tails cried out. She looked vaguely like Miku, but I was convinced that she wasn't like her at all. Miku had more of a sweet… I stopped myself. I couldn't be thinking of Miku at a time like this. For now, she didn't exist.

"Hmm?" I hummed.

"W-We were just…" The four others were all huddled together behind the black haired girl. "T-Tei was just…"

I rolled my eyes. Stuttering? Oh so they were scared of me now? Poor Tei, having to deal with spineless people who had to come together to pick on someone half their weight, she didn't deserve this from what I know of her. Just to let you know, I didn't know much.

"P-Please understand Kagamine-kun," The girl pushed. I decided to ignore the girl, brushing her aside and going straight for Tei. I knelt down, helping her up. She was lighter than I originally thought and probably a lot thinner.

"C'mon Tei-chan, we're gonna be late for English," I informed, yanking her from her spot and pushing past the gawking girls. Annoying pests. I looked over my shoulder to see their shocked expressions and grinned in delight. "Sorry ladies, but you were in our way." Their faces were totally priceless that I couldn't help but release my laugh. They were totally pathetic.

"Th-Thanks, Kagamine-kun."

"Don't mention it."

"N-No r-really…" She tightened her previously loose grasp. "I'm always causing you trouble…" Her voice was dying down and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't because of our practice in music class. Was she going to cry again? I can't deal with tears too well, so I pulled her up a bit to keep up with my pace. "S-Sorry!" Tei cried out in panic, wiping away her tears, or at least I think she was. I could only see her with my peripheral vision.

"Those girls are really annoying anyway, I was really hoping for a chance to humiliate them." I stopped, figuring that it was enough distance between them and us. I let go of her dainty hand and folded my own behind my head. "Besides, I got sick of them bothering you."

Her eyes widened and I could see that she was flustered. "R-Really?"

"Yeah, we're friends, right?"

"…R-Right…"

"Anyway, let's head back to English, Prima-sensei is gonna make us hold buckets outside of class if we're late," I groaned. What a pointless punishment. It was a waste of a good bucket and a quantity of water.

"O-Okay…" I stepped back beside Tei, keeping pace with her and shooting glances at everyone who looked our way. All I know is that no one was gonna bother her anymore.

Lunch was normal. Tei was sitting by my desk, slowly munching on a triangle shaped sandwich. She offered me one, but I declined. I could see how much food she needed for her frighteningly thin body. I pushed some of the sweets from my lunch box to hers and I could see her eyes boring into them. I guess she wasn't much of a dessert person.

"Don't like sweets?"

She shook her head. "They're okay… but I like cucumbers more."

"Hmm… so is that why you barely have any meat in your box?"

She blushed. "Y-Yeah…"

"You should eat more meat. I'll bring in some tomorrow so you could balance your diet."

"N-No! Don't trouble yourself…"

"Can't hear you," I said with a devilish grin. "So I'm gonna assume that you're gonna eat what I bring tomorrow." Tei had a panicked look and I laughed.

So this is what it was like to have a friend outside of the dysfunctional family I was part of. It felt nice having someone else to talk to without having to do any work for them. A smile pulled at my lips and I chuckled, Tei started giggling ever so softly.

Maybe I should try to socialize? Yeah that'd be a good idea to do.

School was finally over and I parted ways with Tei, making sure to drop her off at her place before heading off to my own. She insisted that she was fine, but I ignored her complaints and made her lead the way. Even if she was fine on her own, I still had the overprotective instincts of a brother and Tei just released that side of me. She was so fragile and…made of glass.

It was like she was a glass vase on the edge of the table, leaning to the ground and with the slightest vibration; the vase would fall and shatter. I don't want me to be that slightest vibration, but with my luck, that could probably be me.

"B-Bye, Kagamine-kun." Tei waved with a smile on her face.

I nodded back with a slightly happier look. "See you tomorrow," I replied back, waving then swinging my bag over my shoulder. I resumed my trip back home.

Passing houses and trees was starting to get boring and I didn't feel like going back home. What to do? There was a park nearby… Yeah a park. I could probably try going down those slides that I used to play on. Actually a swing might be the better idea. The kids might get angry at a grown up for playing on their turf. I couldn't help but chuckle. It was a funny thought.

When I got there all I saw were two kids running around the sand box. Their laughter was resonating through the skies and soon died down and their feet kicking up clumps of grass and dirt. The girl of the duo had black hair in pig tails and wore a red dress and the boy was clad in green. Even his hair was green! I didn't know if he got it through genetics or if his family decided to dye it just so he would be considered unique.

Whatever, it wasn't my problem.

I glanced around once more and found that it was only those two and me. I shrugged, it was quiet enough and the sun was close to setting.

I didn't even realize how much time passed by.

I found myself walking to the swing set and grabbed hold of a rusty chain that held the plastic seat. I dropped my bag on the ground and took a seat on the rectangular seat. I pushed myself back, holding tight on the chains and began swinging. I kicked my legs back and forth until I was higher than the pole that held up the swings.

There was no reason _why _I felt so happy about swinging. It was weird for something as simple as this to make anyone happy.

But…

I grinned. It didn't matter. I felt free, I felt happy and I felt like nothing else existed while the wind blew against my face in soft whispers. Returning to the seat of a swing was more fulfilling than I thought.

Problem free.

Maybe I could be that person?

It was such a farfetched dream that I wouldn't have any energy left to reach it.

I lost myself.

* * *

Shorter chapter than usual. Like around five pages. Though this is a filler type of chapter, showing Len's school life and whatnot.

I'll get around to moving the plot somewhere and in all honesty, I was gonna have Miku appear in here so it wouldn't be a filler. I decided against it though, it wouldn't be realistic enough for me = 3=. I'm not particularly a fan of fanmade characters, but I threw Tei in for the heck of it.

The next chapter is still in the thought process, only because I had another story plot for a Vocaloid fic ==" Sorry, I really should get to work on Whatever it Takes :P

~Ventus


	6. She never looks back

Facing the Consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

It's finally here.

And I don't mean Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's release date.

* * *

She used to walk away – always walked away – and never looked back.

I never really noticed that pattern until today in the grocery store while straying from Kaito and Sweet Anne. There was a short supply on food and the two decided to drag me out of the house in order to torture or teach me to familiarize myself with the streets in the town. Also, because Meiko didn't want to come because she was working on stuff in the basement and Rin was out at a friend's house.

So when they decided to go to the produce section of the super market, I broke apart from their pair and tried to waste as much time as I could before they finally realized I was gone. I slipped my hands into my pockets and randomly hummed a tune I heard on the radio on the way here. Now what section in a grocery story is the _least _bit interesting?

...Wow, that was such a stupid question to ask myself.

Maybe I should've stuck with the others?

Or ran out of the house and hid on top of the roof like usual. ...Why didn't I do that?

"Graah..." I sighed while jerking my shoulder to crack it. "I'll just go back to the produce place..."

Of course, being the person I was, I ended up in the freezer area a.k.a the meat section. As a fan of such a product, my stomach couldn't help but want to take home some steak, although, I'd like to eat some bundles of bananas too... I really wished I ate more back at the house.

"Onee-sama I want to go buy cherries!" some girl screeched. It made my ears ache and made me drop a package of steak I was holding. Annoying girl.

"Miki-san don't just demand Onee-san like that," some adult guy scolded and I scowled. These people were too loud.

"I can do whatever I want, Gaku-nii!"

"Ugh...how distasteful!"

"Stop talking like an old man!"

"I am _not _old!"

The sound of a smack to the head followed and I couldn't help but smirk in delight. Okay so I might be a jerk to be happy about that, but the girl was so annoying. ...Wait...she sounded extremely familiar.

I swung my head to look at the loud-mouthed people and my jaw nearly dropped to the shiny white tiles of the market.

The Joker of the Night stood there wearing a simple black skirt with a gray sleeveless dress shirt and a blue tie. Her hair as pulled up into twin tails with the use of black ribbons and a purple-ish colored stripe in the middle. She had a smile on her face and she didn't look like she had a care in the world.

It was like she was a completely different person.

"We'll buy you more cherries in a bit." Miku, the girl that's been causing me utter internal conflict for the past weeks, was standing just a few feet away from me and was smiling. Seriously - unbelievably - smiling.

She...had never looked so... Wait...where was I going with this? I shook my head, somehow feeling my cheeks flare up with heat. W-What was happening?

"Hooray!" Miki cheered with her cherry red hair flying up as she jumped in victory.

"You are such a child," the man commented with a disapproving shake of the head.

"Now let's be nice to Ki-chan, Gaku-kun. I'll go buy some more eggplants if you want," Miku beamed and I felt...kind of...weird.

"You are far too kind for words, Onee-san!" The man's eyes...sparkled for some reason. Despite his debonair looks and respectful tone, it seemed like he had a childish side when she spoke to him. Miku only smiled at him and I felt entranced.

Was that the right word?

Well if it wasn't, then whatever. I couldn't help, but keep staring at her; wanting her to notice me, but also not to at the same time. ...Did that even make sense? I bet it didn't, but this feeling and desire didn't make sense anyway.

Her eyes were livelier than usual and she seemed to..._glow_. It was like she radiated life. Unlike back in the apartment when she was practically a ghost that roamed in and out at night.

This time was different.

Too different.

"Onee-sama..." Miki said in a harsh whisper, which reeled me into their conversation. "It's that boy from the studio!"

Miku finally turned and her eyes widened, meeting mine. I felt...unprepared. My heart was racing and I couldn't keep focus.

"He keeps looking at you," she said in a hissing tone. I flinched without wanting to.

"Miki-san, don't judge." the older man then shot me a threatening glance. ...So much for not judging.

He was wearing a sophisticated Italian suit so maybe he was their bodyguard?

Them being _models _and all.

Miki was wearing a regular school uniform, the same blue skirt, white, dress shirt type deal. Nothing special really.

"Do you..." the purple haired man - why was it so long? Does he want to be confused with the female gender? - trailed, shifting his eyes from me to Miku.

Miku was silent then she smiled and that made my heart race. She giggled a bit, and it wasn't one of those playful ones that schoolgirls make; it was one that girls make when they're having fun planning someone's demise. I could tell, having lived with Meiko all, or most, of my life.

"Don't trouble yourself with him, Gaku-kun." That...somehow stabbed my heart and made it bleed. Then she turned around, holding a package of bloody meat in her frail looking hands. She deposited it into their cart and grasped the handle bar. "I don't think he's any trouble right now."

She pushed it away, departing from the meat section. That _Gaku _character shot a doubtful look at me, and it had a hint of sympathy. Then he, too, turned around and followed after the Joker. I suspected the Miki girl to run off and leave, but instead she bounded towards me. Her eyes were skeptical and I felt an invasion of both privacy and personal space being conducted while she circled me and had eyes of a huntress. What was this girl's deal?

Then she stopped and placed her hands on her hips.

"...Don't tell me you're in love with Ku-oneesama!" She spat out in distaste and that led me to staggering back. W-What a...a...audacity!

Miki, with all her cherry red glory, had a flustered and angered look on her face.

"B-Because...i-if you are th-then..." ...Stumbling? _Why _was _she _stumbling with her words? Instead of finishing her statement, she held up her right hand and made a motion that she was going to slap me. Due to instinct, I crouched down a bit, moved my right foot back and caught her petite wrist.

"W-What's your problem?" I exclaimed while throwing her weak arm back. She was flustered and looked ready to cry.

"W-We're not giving Onee-sama back!" She wailed, turned around and dashed off without giving me as much as a second to respond.

…What?

"H-Hey wait!" I yelled, giving chase. For a lanky model she could run!

Then she made a turn and I did as well, but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Miku standing by the corner where we were making a turn. Miki was nowhere to be seen and neither was that Gaku person. It was just me and Miku - or in correct grammatical terms - Miku and I. She was silent, and her head was twisted to another side, looking at one of the brands for a soda box.

This was really awkward.

"Let's see..."

Her voice was really delicate.

"Len," she started and that made me jump. She never really said my name too often. "don't look back."

I entertained the thought of looking back, but didn't. Miku was mysterious, and whatever she said was equally as mysterious. Usually when it came to mysteries, once you look away from one, it disappears without so much as a trace or clue. Miku would definitely disappear like that.

I gave her my attention and waited patiently while she plucked a box of green colored drinks. The thought of looking back became more and more tempting as I watched her.

"If you look back, you won't be able to talk to me." That single statement made me reject the temptation. Don't ask me why, because I barely know the answer myself.

"A-And why do you think I want to talk to you so badly?" I asked in a demanding tone. She didn't have to think of herself so highly!

She was silent then she turned to face me after what seemed like seconds of contemplation. "I didn't think you'd want to talk to me so badly," Miku spoke gently. "You can look back, by the way."

I did and saw that Sweet Anne and Kaito were blindly walking past us a few aisles down. She didn't want us to be seen?

"I don't want them to see me," she confessed and I raised a brow. She dumped down the box of drinks and sighed in relief at having to put down the weight. "I'm not sure how Kaito-nii and Anne-nee would react. They could be mad at me or cry to me; honestly, doing that in a grocery store wouldn't be so dignified."

"But they miss you," I blurted out.

Her eyes had a flash of worry, but it dissolved quickly. Mine widened, realizing that the liveliness I once saw wasn't there anymore.

"A-And...umm...I-I..." Miss you? I didn't really know.

"You've gotten...handsome." I felt my face go red.

"W-What? W-Where did th-this come from?"

She took a step closer to me, shortly abandoning the case of soda and brushed strands of hair from my forehead. Without so much of a warning, she leaned forward, brushed her lips against my cheek, and stayed close to the side of my head.

"You're...not going to catch me," she whispered with a hot breath and I felt it send tingles down my spine. It was like she did this on purpose, just to - I dunno - provoke me? I wonder if that's what she's devising. I don't know why, and suddenly I didn't want to know while she was lingering there, her breath pressing against my skin.

I just noticed how empty this aisle was. No one was coming by, or leaving or even checking anything out. What was up with this place?

"This isn't going to go according to your plan." What was she talking about? "I know you believe I'm a thorn in your operation, but I'm more involved than you think. Also, if you use_ him _again, I will not hesitate to destroy what you have so far."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, with anxiety. She was making me anxious, hesitant, the feeling that told me she was dangerous.

Of course she was, with her legend being the Joker of the Night. However, this danger was that beyond getting shot by a gun or stabbed by a knife. It felt like it would really kill me if I got too close.

"I'm going to protect Mikuo." This again?

"He's dead, Miku," I pushed.

"I'm dead." Again? She reached her arms around me, roping them behind my neck and started pulling me into her. It was safe to say that I was getting used to being in the weirdest of weird situations and…the fact that I knew she wasn't flat sorta helped. It really didn't by the way. Something sounded like a snap, and the weight of her hands lightened.

What was that? I mentally shook my head, I had to pursue in answering questions.

"Why do you keep saying that?" This was getting really frustrating.

Then she pulled away, giving my cheek one last brush of her lips and smiled innocently at me. Her eyes had that same psychotic look in her eyes that made me rewind back to when we met in the studio halls.

"It's because..." her tone was wavering. She began shifting her eyes around. Abruptly she spun around, her back facing me, and knelt down, picking up the case. Quit avoiding the question! I dashed around her, and stopped her from picking up the case by pushing my hands down on it. Our eyes locked and somehow the liveliness returned.

This girl was seriously hauntingly mysterious.

She changes moods every time we meet. Every time we do, she does something weird that makes my body react differently than usual.

Then she leaned in and pressed her lips against mine. I gasped and pulled back. Th-That… "What was that?" I exclaimed and saw her smile.

"I like you," Miku admitted then picked up her stuff and ran off. I was still stuck in a daze, but I had enough sense to glance back and saw that she kept running. The weight of the case didn't seem to sway her one bit and she never looked back.

That was such a consistent pattern that it finally dawned upon me that she never looked back. Maybe she was scared of what she saw, or it could be because she didn't want anything catching up to her or crashing into her? I didn't know, but I wanted to.

…Wait… I backtracked, trying to reorganize my thoughts.

Did she just say she liked me?

"This is so confusing!" I wailed in aggravation, furiously scratching at my head. It hurt, but so did whatever was confusing me on the inside. I was getting attacked from all sides, but the confusion hurt the most!

"Len!" Ah, that was Kaito. I shot up to my feet, having knelt down to stop Miku, and tried to get rid of my vying thoughts. He ran towards me, with a plastic bag filled with vegetables and gave a wary look. His blue muffler was flying frantically around his neck and his white jacket flared up behind his running back. I checked out behind him and saw Sweet Anne feverishly pushing her cart, wearing a pretty yellow sundress and having a flowery clip in her hair.

"H-Hey…" I muttered, somewhat embarrassed and fixing my jean jacket. While doing that, it felt like something fell, and I looked back to discover that it was a bunch of small, black fragments. Something that looked vaguely…familiar.

"Len, we told you not to leave us," Kaito reprimanded, but I blatantly ignored him.

"Yeah…" Sweet Anne finally commented breathlessly grasping at the handle bar of the cart. "Y-You really shouldn't have run off like that!"

I balled my hand into a fist. "That crazy woman was using us!" I loudly proclaimed.

"…What?" They questioned in unison.

* * *

"You monstrous hag!" I yelled only to be blown away by her demonic strength.

"Shut up, you pathetic pile of a brat!" Meiko scoffed while adjusting her boxing gloves.

I got up without effort and growled at her in return. Sweet Anne looked worried sick over what was happening and most likely over my chances on living.

"I hope you got what you wanted! Whatever it was anyway!" I huffed while sitting on the torn up couch that used to be in the old apartment we used to live in. We were all in the basement – and yes, I mean all, Rin got back and was finally part of our little gatherings – and the two other adults, Meiko not included, were annoyed with what was happening.

Well Sweet Anne was worried and annoyed at the same time, along with a mixture of relief and anxiety. Yeah it was a total clash, but it didn't matter at the moment.

"I didn't get shit if that's what you're asking," Meiko jeered, shooting me a glare. Then she sat back down on her computer chair, and tapped away on the left button of the mouse. The computer was brand new; having bought it with her paychecks at the gym, and it ran like crazy. "I didn't think I'd get much, but I guess I got enough to please those two—" she pointed at Kaito and Sweet Anne. "–over there since their beloved _Miku _is actually alive."

I snapped my eyes towards them. Kaito looked shifty, he should be since he knew that Miku was alive and well, and Sweet Anne looked ecstatic.

I threatened myself to look at Rin – I did – and found her stiff, incredibly stiff. Was she trembling?

"Now then, seeing as how the blond wonder over there knew that I snuck a bug on him…" she trailed, while clicking on a folder icon. "I'll just let you guys listen to the conversation that these two had."

She clicked play on the recorder and my heart sank while I listened to every word that escaped Miku's mouth. While it was in person, it felt natural, but now…listening to them once more with the use of a computer and speakers, they felt unnatural. It was as if the voice of the person wasn't human.

I scanned the room, seeing that everyone was intent.

Then Miku's threat rang in the air and I felt puzzled. She knew about this?

Of course she did! My mind went back to when she held me close. Oh, sheesh…she was using me to send a message to Meiko! My body felt like it was standing in the middle of an earthquake; the feeling of being used somehow hurt. It was ironic since I was used for the most part of my life to help pay the debts that somehow piled up through the years while living in that terrible neighborhood.

"I'm such a piece of trash," I muttered while slapping my hands to my face. I could feel a bruise forming on the side of my face – the side where Miku had brushed her lips upon and where Meiko punched me – but I didn't mind it. No matter how much it hurt to realize that I'd have to put ice on it soon. "You guys both used me."

It was as if, to them, I was something that could be recycled, thrown away by one person, and then reused by another. Heh…I never really thought of myself being creative in this kind of thing. What was it called?

Oh right, a simile; Tei had to help me out with that in English class.

Somehow, the recording stopped when it came to the point of Miku saying she was dead. I looked through the gaps of my fingers and there, with surprise, stood Rin. Her head was down and Meiko was away, a few inches away, from her spot. Her face twisted into a flabbergasted one and then I slipped my hands away from my face.

Both Sweet Anne and Kaito had the same expression and I couldn't help but question what had just happened while I was sulking to myself. What happened in the seconds when I covered my sight?

"R-Rin?" the woman with monstrous strength…stammered? She did _not _just stammer, did she?

Rin lifted up her head, clearing away the fallen blond strands of her hair from her face. Her eyes looked deadly and had the gleam of a killer's. She looked scary, not having the anxiety-filled eyes the old her used to have. It sent chills down my spine and the fact that my own sister, who used to lean on my shoulder as a clutch twenty-four seven, was scaring me and everyone else in the room.

When did she gain such an ominous look?

"Delete this recording," she demanded, aiming her malicious look at the busty woman. "it's useless."

"N-Now just hold up!" Rin didn't back down. "This could prove to be important!" the older woman argued, amplifying her voice. She got up from her chair in an abrupt manner and tried to glare Rin down.

My sister didn't budge. Instead, she stared at Meiko back, but gave me a split-second glance. A sudden shock of familiarity stung me in the back of my neck and I nodded without realizing it.

Did we just have that…twin telepathy going on?

I've heard of it, but never really…y'know…paid attention to it.

I just so happen to have a knack for not paying attention to anything.

"It's not going to be important," Rin stated icily then swept her hand over to the mouse and deleted the recording.

I somehow ended up respecting and commending Rin at that very moment.

* * *

I climbed up from the side, and found Rin sitting on the roof, phone in hand. She was chatting in a cheery tone to whoever was on the other line, then turned her head and saw me. Her expression shifted into a wary one then she muttered something and hung up by pressing the end button. It all happened in one swift movement then she put down the phone and brought her knees up to her chest.

Her eyes were distant, probably lost in the night sky. I finally got my foot and walked on the roof, and plopped myself down beside her. It was silent between eyes, our eyes entranced by the sky that hung over our heads like a vast sheet.

It was difficult, starting up a real, sea-deep conversation with my sister. Even though all I wanted to do was say a simple thank –you to her.

Seeing that she's not bothering to try to spark a conversation with her own flesh and blood, I sighed and juggled with my options. …There weren't any that were moderately appealing.

None whatsoever.

"If you came here to talk, then talk." I stiffened a little. She never used to sound so rough.

"Ah..." I started out in a lame breath. Wow, I was feeling threatened by my sister.

"Well?" she snapped and I cringed.

"I just wanted to say thanks..." I trailed off, risking the chances of her getting up and leaving or her acting coldly towards me. Probably using the same frozen tundra, she emitted in the basement not too long ago.

It was already past dinner and no one was man enough to get her. Not even Meiko was up to the challenge.

She breathed out, finally after moments of chilled silence. Her eyes were still stuck on the sky, but I took the initiative to face her.

"…I mean…" I felt like I was tripping over every thought that ran into my head. They were all colliding, trying to force themselves out of my mouth to communicate without having any awkward or heavy tensions.

"She must've been pretty." Huh?

She turned to me and beamed a slow forming smile on her lips. I didn't think my sister could look pretty – okay from time to time sure – but right now she looked like an actual young woman. Had she grown up without me realizing it? Have I been looking the other way while she was growing up?

"You looked so heartbroken and sounded breathless," she said with a teasing tone that it slowly came to me that…that she was making fun of me! I pounded my fists on the roof and sent her a spine-chilling glare, but it didn't look like it affected her at all.

"W-What are you talking about?" I demanded feeling flushed…no wait! Wait! Disregard me feeling flushed. I wasn't… I really wasn't!

I saw her tremble and I gradually calmed down. W-Was she going to cry?

"H-Hey…" I whispered, reaching my hand towards her, but instead of getting the reaction I was expecting, she burst out laughing. She clutched her stomach, and kicked her legs out in front of her.

"J-Just…" she laughed excitedly."Y-You… Oh sheesh…"

"W-What's so funny?" I screamed in frustration; this was _not _the type of talk I wanted!

"Y-You!" she said in between breaths of laughter and respite. "Your face was just…and… I can't believe…"

"What can't you believe?" I was seriously getting annoyed. Women were so frustrating to deal with! I just wanted to pull the hair from out of my skull and…I don't know…incinerate them all?

…Ignore my…whatever it's called! Something like an exaggeration right?

"That you're actually in love with her!"

The world started crumbling.

* * *

"Kagamine-kun?"

"...Hmm...?"

"Um...you look pale."

"I do?"

"And...um..."

"What is it Tei?" I snapped at her while lifting my head up from my desk. She flinched and proceeded to tap her pencil against the edge of her desk with her crimson eyes looking back and forth. Shit, did I scare her too much? "Sorry..." I mumbled and dropped my head back to my desk.

"U-Umm...i-it's fine..."

It was silent between us even though it was moderately loud in the classroom with everyone doing their so-called studies. The desks were still in perfect order; it was just everyone that was in disorder. As for Tei and I, we were just sitting down, not socializing with anyone. Well Tei was shy and...not very liked; as for me, I'm just not great with socializing, probably something equivalent to being socially awkward.

"Hey Tei..." Maybe I should ask her about this alien concept about the whole _being in love _thing. It never dawned upon me before.

"Y-Yeah?" she squeaked suddenly.

...Nah I shouldn't bother asking her. She has enough on her plate with her self-confidence and whatnot issues. "Never mind," I muttered and turned my head to face the window. "It's nothing important anymore..."

She was silent. "...H-huh?" she sounded genuinely confused and that urged the need for an explanation, but I didn't bother.

Nothing eventful happened during class.

* * *

After dropping Tei off - with her still whining about me having to take care of her - I stopped by the park and saw that the kids weren't there. That's weird, I usually see them here, running around or playing in the sand box. Since I've been frequenting here lately, I actually got along with them, weird as it may be to befriend two kids.

The girl with the black pigtails was Yuki Kaai and the green haired kid was Gachapoid. Yuki Kaai's the childish of the two and likes eating apples a lot, where as Gachapoid likes pretending to be the adult and has a thing for...dinosaurs. He claims to be one, and even though I wanted to correct him, Yuki Kaai just told me to let it go. Sometimes the two reminded me of Rin and me from how we were from before. I swatted that thought away most of the time before Rin and I truly made up, but now it just kinda makes me laugh almost as if it was humorous.

Because it was.

I took my usual occupancy on the swing set and just sat there; waiting for any interesting thought to pass me by.

...None did.

I clutched the chains and twisted them around. Why am I so useless?

The weather was so nice; the sun didn't look like it was going to set soon, though it wasn't too long since I got here straight from school. My internal clock was out of whack due to not being able to sleep properly last night. Crazy as it is, I was busy thinking about certain things and yet not a single interesting thought _outside _the dilemma we were in showed its presence in my thick skull.

I swung myself back and forth lightly. The swing didn't give me the same freedom it did like my first time being here.

"I'm such a mess..." I mumbled and felt a shadow fall over me.

"If you're a mess, want someone to clean you up?" a girl wearing the female's school uniform questioned in a teasing tone. I just gave her a blank look and resumed looking at the ground, resuming my light swinging. "H-Hey! I just used a line on you, mind showing some acknowledgement?" she said in an irritated tone and I rolled my eyes, mockingly gracing her by finally giving her some eye contact.

She didn't look bad, but it's not like I really judge based on appearances.

She had short, light green hair that made me think that she was related to Gachapoid, and sported some orange goggles that rest around her neck. Nothing too out of the ordinary other than the hair and accessories; not particularly interesting to say the least.

"Acknowledgement made, now leave me alone," I grumbled, trying to wear her down with an indifferent look. Instead of having the result of her leaving, she crossed her arms, and then landed onto the swing beside the one I was sitting on and twisted to face me. I allowed my head to fall down, not bothering to use any strength in keeping it up because...well because of the sole reason that this new girl was annoying me.

"Sheesh, you really are a mess," she scoffed and I rolled my eyes at her remark.

"I want to be alone if you don't mind," I snapped, feeling as though she was some teacher thoroughly enjoying the need to test my patience. She was probably enjoying it as far as I can tell; it was a just feeling though.

"I actually do, I was thinking: _Hey that kid looks like he's down. Did his girlfriend dump him?_" she informed with a perky voice that I felt my shoulders cringe while she was sounding out her prior thoughts. "Then being the kind soul I was, I went up to you to help your broken heart and sweep you off your feet." she finally finished her prattle and I could tell she was waiting for some reaction.

Sorry to break it to you, but you were going to get anything worth waiting for from me. I was barely even registered anything she said for the past...oh sheesh how long did she talk? I got up from my seat, dusting my back and adjusted my bag. Well, home was far more interesting than here and far less annoying since this goggle girl wasn't going to be there.

"H-Hey!" I started walking, picking up the pace to get to the gates of the playground. C'mon just a bit more and I could make a run for it. "I said _hey_!" she hollered and I jumped, ready to make a run for it.

When I felt that she got closer, I jumped and broke into a run. "Someone help! This chick won't stop stalking me!" I yelled and gained a good amount of attention. The people who were outside in the area all jumped in alarm at my news and I grinned in pleasure before picking up my momentum.

"H-HEY! That's a bold-faced lie!" she screamed, and I could hear her footsteps gaining both speed and power. I wonder how much I angered her. Probably a lot when her footsteps died down and soon turned into temper tantrum stomps. I could feel the grin spreading over my face and felt...I dunno, really happy! After all that tossing and turning and utter confusion, this ended up being a pretty good day at the playground.

"Just leave me alone!"

"W-Why you...you...lying jerk!"

Oh please, you _have _got to come up with something better than _that_!

I made a turn to the corner then peeked from the corner of a house. My eyes probably looked like they were shining with mischief, but I didn't care what I looked like at the moment. What I did care was the scene that the green haired chick was putting up; she had a defeated and flabbergasted look on her face with her mouth probably sputtering some stuff of her defense of not being some creepy stalker. A group of people had scolding looks on their face, probably defending me or trying to teach her that stalking wasn't a good thing and blah and that it's horrible and blah blah.

I cackled in wicked amusement and strutted back home, not bothering in clearing up the misunderstanding.

Oh today was definitely a good day to have gone to the playground.

* * *

I really thought I had typed more than eleven pages, but whatever =="

Anyway, I know it's been...two months? My apologies! I've been contemplating on how to write out the next chapter since the last chapter was a filler - kinda... - and I didn't know what to do next. That is until one night I decided to smack my hands on a laptop and start typing _something _that would remotely relate to the next chapter for FtC, and whaddya know? It worked! I've been working on this for about...a few days, but I don't think I got much down in here.

HOWEVER.

I finally know where I'm going with this. No joke. I finally know what I'm doing with Miku and it sorta gets complex with her - thankfully, I didn't write with her PoV - but it makes sense along with the other characters. I'm not gonna dive into much detail, but I do know for a fact, that I got everything sorted out and I know how this is gonna end. I'm hoping that it'll end in about five or six more chapters, depending how much I need to write. Hopefully it'll be less then that so I won't have to worry about this fic anymore - harsh to say, but true.

Hooray for adding in a Len x Miku scene without her comparing Len to Mikuo! I thought the scene was too fluffy for this kind of story, so I felt the need to kinda ruin it in the next one.

The Len and Rin brother/sister scene felt too light hearted and realistic, but I like how it went. I needed to fix Rin's personality anyway, I can't take her as serious o_o.

Anything else...?

Finals are soon and I have an AP project to work during the summer. (Hooray for more work!)

Waiting for blissful summer days,

~Ventus


	7. What are you talking about?

Facing the Consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

An update? Oh shoot. It's almost as surprising as a Tales game localizing! Shamefully advertising: Tales of Graces F on the PS3. OHMYOHMYOHMY.

Over six thousand words (though that's only because of the plethora of author notes at the bottom).

* * *

"Hey Rin," I started while we walked towards school together for the first time in a long time. She picked up her head, drowsiness was still apparent in her eyes while her head was subtly nodding up and down. "Why are you being…er...friendlier to me now?" I just had to know why. Why, all of a sudden, was she talking to me without hesitance or anxiety after our first big fight that happened a while back? I would've thought she'd hold a grudge against me because, after all, I was the one who promised to stick by her.

She gave it some thought and yawned loudly. I sweat dropped, oh thanks a lot sis.

"Eh…I dunno…I guess…" she paused, yawned and then smacked her lips together while stretching her arms. "It's because I reflected on what you said and well…" She shrugged. There was a _lot _of pausing in what she was explaining. It was like some dramatic moment on some television show where the heartwarming yet suspenseful music would start playing to bring in more of an atmosphere.

"Mind hurrying it up?" I pushed and she sent me an annoyed glare, which shut me up – amazingly.

She stopped her stretching and swung her arms by her sides. "_Well _I thought that I was being an ungrateful brat who pushed everything on your shoulders. I know, totally out of character of me to admit that I was wrong, but I was. You went through a lot for me and I should've been nicer about it since you didn't really enjoy your own life." I was left speechless by her sudden revelation. So then…

"Why did you start avoiding me?"

She shot me a look of confusion, almost as if I was supposed to know the answer. I shrugged in response, wearing an expression that was completely and utterly clueless. I can't read minds, she's lucky I could read the atmosphere most of the time. Then Rin brushed her hair over her shoulder, grumbled a few words under her breath and gave me a gaze of complete dullness. Well if you don't wanna say anything then don't say it! …Even though I'm really curious.

"What do you think?" I was contemplating it, then my sister shot her hand up at me and silenced whatever I was going to say. Before any minds start to wander, I was going to say that I thought that she decided to live her own life without me being involved. It's probably because I thought that she'd hate me forever after my huge tirade of her practically taking over my life.

Anyone would be mad at something like that, right?

"Forget the question, I know it's probably you thinking that I was pissed off and wanted to live without you being involved." She hit a bulls-eye with that remark. "You are right though, I was pretty pissed off, but I got over it after some sleepless nights. I was thinking of a way to try to apologize to you about it, but I thought that a simple apology wasn't going to work."

"It could've…" I mumbled with a shrug as we continued our walk. By the way, we took the long way there. It was just two more streets than the direct way to school. "I _am _pretty simple-minded, if you could so kindly remember the times that Meiko's called me that."

Rin giggled and I grinned. This felt nice, having a regular sibling relationship, that is. I've only seen these on television and with the type of relationship I had with Rin prior to the recent events, I never really thought about how it would feel like.

"Anyway, continue on." We made a turn onto another road. A few people passed us by, some were on foot, chatting energetically on the side walk. There were others who were jogging and listening to their music players and only one or two were on bikes, riding to school.

"Yeah so…I was wondering how I could make it up to you and when Meiko was giving you a hard time, I thought that helping you would be the best first step in mending our relationship…" She quieted down, almost as if she was cautiously looking over all of her previously said words. Then Rin gasped lightly and a look of panic struck itself on her face. "Of course, I didn't really stick up for you _just _for that."

"What?"

"You're my brother, and siblings need to stand up for each other, right?" she questioned and I hesitantly nodded, confirming her. She smiled and then her cheeks puffed up in frustration with her fist gradually clenching around the bag's handle. "Also, Meiko was seriously pissing me off. What's her problem anyway? She always gets upset if something involves Miku, and then Kaito and Anne have to try and calm her down!" Rin shook her head and I started getting nervous. I knew the reason why they were nerved whenever Miku was present or mentioned.

As said before by Kaito, they were the reason why Miku's brother died.

"Y-Yeah…" I murmured cautiously, trying to hide any signs that I knew about it. Rin would probably hassle me as to why and how I know. She'd probably start interrogating me on things I don't wanna say and how it's none of my business to have learned.

"Any idea why they'd get all frazzled when it concerns Miku?" she questioned and I laughed nervously, while pushing her towards the school building. "H-Hey! Len!" she protested, flailing her arms around while I kept pushing her nearer and nearer to the learning facility.

"Sorry, Rin! But we're late!" I lied and kept shoving her, creating a small pathway inside a huge crowd of people. "Outta the way!" I demanded roughly, Rin was still yelling at me, but I happily ignored her. I could hear people whispering around us, but whenever they did, I cleared my breath and smirked at them devilishly. They staggered back, probably surprised that I could hear them due to the noise level outside the school building.

When we got out, I gave one final push to Rin and she slightly stumbled on her feet. She landed not-so-gracefully and held her skirt down, afraid that anyone was going to see her privacy. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't interested, but I did feel the sudden brotherly protection that I kept under wraps. Just because I didn't care, didn't mean that the other dogs in this school didn't. Uh-oh…brotherly affection was on the rise. Rin puffed her cheeks and smacked me over the head with her bag.

"Jerk!" she cried out, stomping her foot while yelling incoherent words that I could care less about. A short summary of all of them translated that I was being a jerk for pushing her around without a good reason. If you add in a few more insulting words then you'll get the full read of what she's saying.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm the biggest jerk you've ever dealt with," I muttered tediously and yawned. I guess I was pretty tired too.

She tapped her foot and relaxed her shoulders. "Whatever, you don't belong solely to _me anymore_, so you can do whatever." She placed her hands behind her head, her bag weighing down her back. Then her eyes caught something from behind me and I turned. There I discovered Tei nervously and happily approaching me, along with other girls glaring at her presence. I sweat dropped, I completely forgot about Tei during our conversation. Rin made a huge, exasperated sigh, almost as if she was disappointed in me about something.

"What?" I asked while returning to her with a scowl etched on my face.

She rolled her eyes and gave me an accusing glare. "Oh don't mind me, I mean, just because Miku isn't _here_ doesn't mean you have to go around leading other girls' hearts astray."

"W-What are you talking about?" I paused and slapped my hand over my face. "Are you talking about Tei? We're _just _friends."

"Of course you are," her tone had no doubt laced in it, but I was still unsure. She's been having some major mood swings in how she's been interacting with me so I was still kinda edgy around her. "Because your heart only beats for _Miku_." I cringed and she laughed. "I still kinda hate her, but I know that you don't, and as a sister, I should be supportive. So yeah, you have my blessing."

"What?" I exclaimed angrily. What _is_ going on her mind right now? Was she right in the head? "Rin, you're jumping to conclusions again!"

She scoffed and I scowled. "Yeah, I was before, but you know I'm right about this one. You can't deny your feelings; you're an open book!" The bell went off before I could retort back and Rin grinned in delight. "Anyway, I gotta go." She was about to leave, but it looked like a thought occurred in her mind. "If you see Miku again, tell her that she should come home; I wanna apologize to her."

"S-Sure…" I was dumbstruck. Rin was actually growing up and taking responsibility. Was this really _our _Rin? She was really growing up when I wasn't looking, wasn't she? She stuck out her tongue, spun around and started running towards the school freely. I watched in her a daze; it was almost as if she was finally acting on her own will, like she broke down several walls to get to where she is now. Several people started flocking towards her and a grin cracked on my lips.

I guess it was my turn to grow up, huh.

"Kagamine-kun, we have to get to class now," Tei called out, breaking my train of thought.

"Right," I agreed and started moving along with my hands behind my head. Tei started catching up with me, landing on the same pace that I was on and started telling me something that happened to her recently. "Eh? That so?"

She nodded happily, almost having some sort of lively glow on her face. "Yes, the teacher says I've improved on singing," she said, stutter free. I had to grin, this was a good change. Rin wasn't so wrecked anymore, so that was one broken girl down. Tei was getting better now, so she was almost off the mental list and all there was left was Miku. She's always on this strange personality swing so…I gotta see where she is on the scale. Was she broken, in need of help or was she completely fine and I was merely jumping to conclusions?

She was a cryptic puzzle.

* * *

"Kagamine-kun," Tei called out in panic and I groggily picked my head up. I guess I fell asleep during the teacher's lecture on this poem they found so phenomenal.

"…Yeah?" I croaked and sluggishly picked my head from the desk, feeling sore. I stretched and heard several cracks ringing from the room.

"U-Um…" She fidgeted and played with her ghostly colored hair. I made a swift glance around the room and saw that almost everyone was gazing to where I was situated. Tei looked completely pale – more so than usual – and her eyes were slightly widened. In short, everyone was rubber necking to where I was sitting and gaped like a fish. If I wasn't so tired, or not me, then I would've been deathly curious as to _why _and _what _they were staring at.

Strangely enough, there were people fawning and screaming at the door too, having their cell phones out and possibly in camera mode. I know I'm pretty popular and all, but this was some pretty serious attention I was getting.

"Over here," a boy called and I snapped my head to the most obvious direction, the first place I should've looked, and that would be: _right in front of me_. When I finally did, a boy with white hair and heterochromatic eyes had a serious and distasteful look on his face. It almost looked as though he was bored with what he saw and I didn't necessarily take it to heart. He didn't look like anything special so I have no possible clue as to why people were making him being here a big deal. Unless there were some of my fans here mixed in the other gaping fish—er students.

"Hey Tei," I called, looking towards her and briefly ignoring the boy in front of my desk. "Who _is _this guy?"

There was a collective gasp that went around the room. People began whispering and I could tell that this was going to be the latest gossip at the moment. Len Kagamine doesn't know who this white-haired kid was! Oh what a tragic way to live!

Tei fidgeted on her seat and twiddled with her thumbs. It looked like she was ashamed of my question as well. Oh c'mon, Tei! Here I thought that _you _out of all people wouldn't judge me.

"Th-That's Piko!" she mumbled loud enough for me to hear. I nodded slowly, still not understanding _why _he was so significant.

I heard the Piko guy sigh in exasperation. "You really _are _slow, aren't you, Kagamine-kun?"

"How does Piko know him?" someone in the room whispered – well more like spoke in a normal tone. No one here knew how to whisper anymore.

"Are they affiliated?"

"No idea."

"Do you know _why _he's here?"

"No clue, I thought he had a concert in Osaka."

"I heard that too."

"I have tickets there!"

"Piko! I love you!"

I slapped my hands over my face and grumbled into them. Annoying fans. I just wanted to enjoy my nap! Wait…fans? Eh…Piko… Piko… It's starting to sound familiar and then I snapped my fingers in realization, causing a quieter tone in the room. I scanned the white-haired boy; he was wearing our uniform, not as sluggishly as I was and his hair wasn't as messy either. He looked proper, but had a prideful air surround him so…

"No clue of who you are," I blurted out carelessly and shrugged. Tei sighed and quickly shut her mouth with panic scribbled all over her face. "Now, go away so I can enjoy my lunch break." I waved my hand at him, second guessing myself if it was evenlunch break.

Several people gasped at what I said and I mulled it over in my head. Can't these people tell that I don't enjoythem watching this? If I wanted to make this public, I'd have it televised or recorded or fed to the internet or whatever.

"You really _are _an imbecile," Piko retorted and I shrugged. This was nothing compared to what Meiko says when she's in a bad mood. It occurs to me that Meiko is a really big pain in my life, sheesh, it's like having an older sister or something; not that all older sisters are bad or anything, just needed to use an example – I can't think of any right now, you got me.

"I know that," I huffed and leaned back on my chair. He slammed his hands on the surface of my desk and Tei flinched, backing her seat away ever so slightly. "Would you go now?"

He glared at me while I gazed back.

"I'm really hungry, _Piko_, so please move." He didn't and I scoffed. Stubborn boy. "Okay, just to please you… What does the _great _Piko want with a little citizen like me?"

"I wanna talk about the Joker."

That shut up my sarcasm.

"So glad you're happy to oblige."

It sounded like his sarcasm had some bite in it.

* * *

"Len! Len!" Rin cried out while I flipped to another channel on the television. I tore my eyes from a commercial on the channel I landed on and replaced my line of vision onto my sister. She had disbelief all over her face and it looked like she was debating something in the dark recesses of her mind. It was either that, or she was trying to annoy me.

"What?" I've been saying that a lot recently.

"Y-You met Piko!"

Oh _him _again? I resumed watching TV, ignoring the ball of disbelief that was hovering beside me. She jumped onto the other cushion of the couch and I tried to shrug away her intent stare; it was really easy by the way.

"Len! Tell me what happened!" she demanded and started shaking my left arm like crazy.

"H-Hey!"

"Tell!"

"R-Rin!"

"NOW!"

"Stop!"

"LEN!"

"What's all the commotion?" Meiko's question rang in the air and both of us froze. The monstrous being loomed over and we looked up at her. She looked dead tired, her hair was messed up and her clothes were in disarray. "I'm trying to sleep and _this _is how you respect one of the people looking after you?"

"Sorry!" We chorused, glanced at each other and burst out laughing. Wow, twin telepathy was a strange thing. It was safe to say that Meiko was confused with the way she raised her brow at us, silently questioning our actions.

After a moment of silence and her crossing her arms under her chest, she grumbled. Then she fixed her baggy jersey and shuffled away, after muttering how much of a lousy pair we were. I stuck out my tongue at her fleeting back, ready to make a retort until Rin pulled me back into our previous conversation before it got interrupted by the older lady. She had that air of determination flaring in her eyes and I sighed, exhausted with the Piko hype.

"So what's up? I didn't know you knew big celebrities." She fell back, comfortable on her cushion while I grabbed the remote and resumed flipping through channels.

"I didn't even _know _he was a celebrity in the first place."

She gasped and I rolled my eyes. _Again_ with Piko; what was so important about him?

"He's the biggest male artist as of right now!"

"Oh…so…what?"

She scoffed, rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Ladies and gentlemen, my sister is a freaking typical teenage girl and I didn't realize it until now. This new development will definitely be the death of me once we somehow grasp the living of a normal life.

"Andfor some reason, he wanted to talk to _you_."

"…Can you get to the point?" She scoffed again and gave me a crossed look. "I'm slow, please spare me," I stated sarcastically and again, she rolled her eyes with disdain.

"Whatever, okay so Piko is this _big _singer who sings duets with this guy Seki—"

"I know he's a singer, Rin, there's no need for a fangirl's back story of the guy."

"Pfft. Fine, stay ignorant."

"I happily will, now if that's all that needs to be said then—"

"Oh hold up! We're not done here!"

I groaned in annoyance and relinquished my deathly desire to resume watching TV. Although, there was nothing special on, I just felt too winded from the talk I had with Piko today. I didn't think any higher of the guy at all, but he struck a very twisted cord when he mentioned _Miku_. Oh wow, I just realized that Rin is the only one who's not affected whenever our previous maid is mentioned; another new development to make quite the impression when it comes down to it.

I could feel her intent glare suffocating me and I sighed, turning off the TV and dropped the controller on the coffee table, hearing it clank against it. "Okay fine, I guess I'll tell you," I murmured and finally took the time to look at her. She looked incredibly ecstatic.

"About time," she commented with a displeased scowl.

"Hey, I've been spoiling you all your life, you don't have to act like such a diva," I replied nonchalantly as usual while sending her a scowl which morphed into a smirk when her own expression twisted into one of revelation.

"Fine!" she stated with rosy cheeks, embarrassed that I caught her with a simple remark.

I smirked proudly, finally rid of that being said. "He said he's been watching me for a long time, fell in love, and wanted me to go on a date with him," I told her with the straightest face possible. It was hilarious to say that her face dropped and soon it was painted red. She slapped her hands on her cheeks and was as flabbergasted as could be. I restrained my mouth to stay in a straight line, but I was enjoying this too much. It wasn't every day that I could make a joke like this, especially to Rin.

"R-Really? S-So…" Oh, she's stuttering now… I kinda wanna extend the joke further now to see her reaction. "…Then he really _is _going out with Sekihan!" she exclaimed with excitement on her face. I grimaced. …That's not where the joke was supposed to head into. Her eyes sparkled and I felt dread taking hold of me; I didn't know Rin was into _that _kind of stuff. I guess that explains…it explains nothing; I was merely trying to think of something else other than her weird fetish or hobby or whatever it's called.

I coughed into my fist, afraid that this was going to continue, and had to do it again to get her out of her strange girlish fantasies. "Eh…no." I paused and saw her dazed face turn into one of disappointment. "First things first: That was a disgusting thought, and second: I was kidding."

"Oh…" She puffed up her cheeks and glared at me. "Jerk! You don't joke about that kind of stuff!"

I rolled my eyes. You can, but you just don't wanna explain your sudden personality change.

"What really happened then? No more joking, okay?" she demanded and I just shrugged, nodded and agreed in a reckless manner.

With I sigh, I hesitantly started telling her my tale in the shortest way possible. "Fine, no more joking; Piko wanted to talk about Miku for some reason, apparently he thought I knew where she was."

"How would he know about Miku?"

My eyes started to wander around the room, frustrated. I don't like the kid, thus I don't like telling stories about him, even if this was my first one. "I'll just tell you the whole story then."

* * *

"So I'm guessing you're not one of those celebrities who shine a smile and act polite to win everyone over?" I commented with a smirk, acknowledging the fact that Piko wasn't very subtle with his dislike towards me and everyone that blocked the pathway leading to the roof. He'd say a nasty comment at every twist and turn, either because I said something sarcastic and he'd combat it with a blunt remark. How'd someone like him get so famous with everyone here, anyway? Even _I _was nicer to the others than he was.

"People can pretend all they want, I just wanna live life the way I want to live it," he replied, never looking back at me as we traversed up the steps to the rooftop. He graciously swung the door open and somehow it was bizarrely empty. Students usually gathered on the rooftop during break, right? …Unless this wasn't a break… Did he drag me out during class?

"Hey, is class still going on?"

"Yeah." So blunt. This guy was definitely not celebrity material at school. Wait, why didn't our teacher stop us? "I didn't want to be hounded by students and teachers during break and I have no idea where you live, so confronting you during a lesson was a fine idea at the time," Piko explained. He suddenly spun to face me, then he waltzed passed me and kicked the door shut. I gaped at that.

"H-Hey!" I exclaimed and a gust of wind brushed past us. He turned around again and gave me a serious look.

"I don't like interruptions, so let's get down to business here."

"S-Sure…" It looked like he was taking charge of things and since I had no idea what was going on, I guess I allowed him to without realizing it. He leaned against the door, putting his hands in his pockets and made a quick scan of me. I froze, unsure of what to do while he stayed silent. "…About erm…the Joker?"

"Yeah." He broke eye contact, twisting his head to face east – eh…west? I don't remember, my head's still sorta jumbled from his personality – and his white hair brushed against his cheeks. "Do you have any idea where she is?"

Eh? There was some sincere worry in his voice and it made me cringe. "…No…" I answered in a low and deep tone. "Why?"

"It's none of your business to know my reasons, is it?" Piko snapped back and I flinched. This kid had a serious attitude problem, so maybe he is a celebrity after all. I wouldn't doubt it now that I had a good talking with him, but if he didn't shut his mouth right now then I'm ready to punch him until his personality changed. He pulled out one of his hands from his pockets and started twisting a few strands of his white hair. "Are you lying to me?"

"I could be," I mused and cracked a grin, folding my hands behind my head. "It's none of your business to know my reasons, is it?" I think I saw him cringe at what I said. Oh this was just too good!

"You're skating on thin ice, Kagamine."

"Oh I'm so scared!" I cried, feigning fear of course. This kid looked like a ghost with his feminine features and thin body. I was practically born fighting on the streets so I highly doubt he could do any fatal damage on me. "But fine, I'll be serious," I informed, shrugging casually and shoving my hands into my pockets.

He didn't respond for a few seconds and resumed twisting his hair strands. I acknowledged that as a force of habit, probably used while he was frustrated or something. "Okay, be serious."

"Tell me your reasons first; I can't freely give you answers if it had anything to do with Mi—The Joker getting hurt." I almost said her name! I don't even know if this kid wanted her dead or alive or if we were even referring to the same Joker at all. Kaito and Leon once said before, '_If you wanna win a situation, it's a good idea to take a cautious approach_' or something like that; that's the gist of what I got from their lectures anyhow.

He gave a look of recognition and I guess I should be welling up with pride if the great Piko finally recognized me as a human being. It's a really nice thing to know, y'know?

"So you refer to her as Miku? I guess I can give you a degree of faith in what you're going to say," he told bluntly, thus, I was confused. So…because I knew someone's name, meant that I could have a smidge of trust; I guess that's how his world rolls, mine was not like that.

"Er…thanks?" It was questionable as to whether or not give gratitude for his ambiguous statement. Piko suddenly stepped away from leaning against the door and gave me another quick scan. Should I feel nervous, violated, what?

"So you want to know my reasons?"

I nodded. "That'd be great, I guess?" I murmured, unsure of the sudden apprehension that befell on my shoulders.

He smirked and it sent a chill down my spine. This guy was giving me the impression that he liked freaking people out. "Well, Miku-chan told me to be nice to you guys so…" I'm guessing he either admires her, likes her – I cringed at the thought of that being the reason he was curious of her whereabouts – is close with her…maybe he stalks her and lost track of her and thus wants to find out by asking me. "Whatever you're thinking, stop and also, rephrase the inaudible commentary," Piko informed with disdain in his voice and expression.

I winced; surprised that he could figure what was going on in my head without me saying anything. "Uh…okay…?"

"I'm in the same business as Miku-chan, Crypton, y'know, the modeling agency you and your imbecile pack took your photo shoots in." It didn't even sound like a question, it sounded like it was a demand for me to remember every miniscule detail of what went on in that agency. I'm not making it sound like a chore; I have a very vivid memory of what happened there. No, it's not because of Miku or anything. …Back to what Piko was saying. "I guess a better way to phrase it is 'Ku-oneesama', but I didn't want to be part of the sheep she's herding around the studios."

Ouch. This guy wouldn't know respect if it—

"I don't like getting off-topic either."

And there went a fact unfinished.

"I'm madly in love with her, and if I don't know where she is then I'll go crazy looking for her." His face was serious and his eyes were intent as he explained his reasons as to why he was looking for her.

"W-What?" I, accidentally, exclaimed. I backtracked and tried to keep my cool, raking my hand through my hair and looked at Piko. A smirk was on his face and he started laughing, much to my displeasure. So he was playing a joke on me, eh?

"Yeah, you're definitely the jealous type," he noted with a Chesire Cat smirk version. "Now that that's out of the way, I guess you were telling the truth that you didn't know where she was."

"How'd you get that? A-And I'm not jealous! Why would you think I was jealous?" It occurred to me that I was spluttering all of these defensive remarks and questions in one breath, which, much to my chagrin, made Piko laugh once again. His laugh had the traits of both a female and male's voice, which made me extremely curious as to how he could hit both ranges. Maybe that's why he's famous?

He shrugged his shoulders and I fumed in response.

This conversation was going nowhere, fast.

"I'm not an imbecile, that's how."

I sent him a glare, which he coolly brushed off as if it was nothing.

"Besides, she already has affection for you, and I don't bother girls like her; I just _hate _getting into a messy love triangle with an imbecile and a girl with a revenge-complex." He scoffed, and decided to continue while I shockingly allowed him to. Revenge-complex...? What was he talking about? "I keep telling her to get over the past and start anew, that _is_ what I've been doing after all. She probably still thinks that Vocaloid—"

"Vocaloid?" I questioned. That was…the club Leon and Lola ran, right? They ran a club before getting into some sort of gang war and that's when Leon lost his life and Lola had a hold on hers. "What do you know about Vocaloid?" I demanded, pushing him against the wall and holding the collar of his shirt.

There was a shocked look on his face as he stared down at my clenched fist holding his shirt and then he waved it over to me. I could feel that my face was twisted into probably what I was feeling right now. A distorted pool of emotions were gathering and increasing within me: apprehension, confusion, curiosity…anything that relates to those three words perfectly described my inner being. I pulled at his collar once more, harsher, more desperate to know what he was talking about.

Vocaloid meant something about Leon and Lola, which meant that there was something important left in Vocaloid…that meant that there… My eyes widened. This could be a childish thought and a desperate grasp of having the alien feeling known as hope in my life, but…

Piko smirked, and grabbed my hand. "Hey Kagamine," he called, breaking my thoughts once more. I looked at him, this time with serious attention, and watched his devilish face smile evilly up at me. "Did you know that absence makes the heart grow fonder?"

"W-What?"

"What I mean is…" He paused, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Are you ready to face the consequences of your dear uncle, Leon?"

* * *

Apologies once again for being late with an update. This was actually done...about a week or two ago, but it was on a computer that didn't have internet service, then just today my dad found a flash drive to use and I finally got this uploaded!

Piko being a jerk? What was I thinking after writing him to be such a sweet soul in Selective and Sweet? Oh right, I thought it'd be nice to make him have a completely different personality (for some reason, I can see him like this like how I can see Len having tsundere qualities). Yes I had to reference to Pico (the actual singer) and Sekihan only because some of my friends are fans of the two. Two, in particular, are...ugh...fans of them being paired together; I'm not, I do enjoy listening to them sing together (Their vocal range is AMAZING).

Rin explains her part of why she's been like this, Piko starts to uncover what's happening and Len is receiving news that have their own degree of vagueness with each passing moment.

Just to make things clear:

**Kagamine twincest dismissed? Seem's fast? Slow? Strange? Unrealistic? TELL TELL TELL.**

Rin and Len are in good terms now, it does seem pretty fast-paced, doesn't it? If it does, please tell me so in the next chapter I could explain it all or something...

**Ugh, great, a cliche? Really, Ventus? I thought you knew better than to toss in cliches in a fanfiction! Especially one like this! BAD VENTUS! I hope you do some explaining in the next chapter as to _why _you toss in a celebrity in a school where the main character and major characters attend! **

No! No! No! It's not true! Please! They're lies, I swear I wouldn't insert such a cliche as that in this kind of fic! Pl-Please I can change! He's actually not a cliche, he's part of the plot, I promise! He was originally in the plans anyway, but he molded his own personality; what a jerk. It'll be explained in the next chapter...maybe.

**Did he just say Leon? OH SHEESH. HE DID. HE FREAKING DID.**

Yes, yes he did.

Okay enough playing around, I guess I can tell you some of my ideas for what I have planned for next chapter:

For those who have read The Forest Chase (A SF-A2 Miki x Mikuo fanfic), it's heavily based on Little Red Riding Hood. I thought about referring to another little Tale that I somehow found fitting for a certain aspect of this story. You'll find out about it next chapter and see a returning character talking about it. Symbolism, tons of it. ...Blame my AP Language Art Lit. summer reading.

By the way, I'll probably be updating faster with this, then see if I can get to Whatever it Takes (Len x Miku) when FtC is done and finish up Three Reasons (Miki x Kaito fic).

~Ventus


End file.
